Winnipeg homeowners and businesses can soon look forward to a new tax on their property.

City bureaucrats are calling it a “land drainage fee,” a new tax they say is necessary to make up for changes they're planning for the frontage levy on our property tax bills.

These are the kinds of shell games they play at city hall when they want to dig deeper into our pockets while looking us straight in the eye and insisting we’re enjoying a tax freeze.

The proposed land drainage fee is the latest example.

In the past, the frontage levy on our property tax bills — which has been increased several times over the past 10 years — was used exclusively for sewer and water upgrades and land drainage costs.

Several years ago, the city asked the province to change the City of Winnipeg Act to allow them to use a portion of the frontage levy for “street renewal.”

They made up for the lost sewer, water and land drainage revenue by jacking up sewer and water rates on our quarterly bills.

Now they want the frontage levy to be used exclusively for street renewal and infrastructure. And to make up for further losses to sewer, water and land drainage, they’re planning to introduce a new tax called the land drainage fee.

Which means overall, we will be paying higher property taxes and there is no such thing as a “property tax freeze.”

It's funny how those, including the National Post, are attacking the Harper government for its "tough-on-crime" agenda. Why are those critics not going after other parties, including the NDP and Liberals who are, in various circumstances, passing the crime bills the minority Conservatives are tabling?

Why not criticize provincial governments like the NDP in Manitoba who are very supportive of the Harper government's anti-crime agenda?

Why are we not seeing the same vitriolic response towards the NDP and Liberals, in the House of Commons and the Senate, for allowing any crime bill to pass since January, 2006? A minority government cannot pass a bill without the cooperation of the opposition parties. Where's the outrage towards those political accomplices?


It's pretty obvious the outrage is about partisan politics and not policy. Otherwise, the criticism would be spread beyond the Conservative government.



- Brodbeck

Manitoba Health is reporting that an adult aged between 18 and 65 who suffered from underlying medical conditions and who was confirmed to have H1N1 has died.

It’s the first death linked to H1N1 in the second wave of the virus. There were seven deaths linked to H1N1 in the first wave of the virus earlier this year.

At eight deaths, it’s about 92 fewer flu-related deaths than Manitoba normally sees in a year.

About 100 people, including some who are otherwise healthy and have no underlying medical conditions, die every year from seasonal influenza in Manitoba.

Manitoba Health rarely, if ever, issues press releases for those deaths. As a result, they are almost never reported in the media.

Tom:

It would appear from the American experience that we can have (a) high rates of incarceration and (b) high rates of public expenditures on prisons but not (c) high rates of incarceration and (d) controlled growth in public expenditures.

And the irony is that lower rates of incarceration can be translated into greater public safety — without prisons -- if the money is targeted on those who need it most.

Seems to me like it would be an easy choice for a fiscal conservative: spend the money where one gets the best return.

It’s not prisons.
--
Craig Jones, Ph.D. | Executive Director
The John Howard Society of Canada




Craig

It would appear that whatever we're doing in justice isn't working for some of the most heinous crimes in Canada. Statistics Canada is reporting that serious assaults — aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm — are all up over the past 10 years.


All violent crimes are up markedly since the 1970s. How do you suppose we can fix this, Craig? More coddling?



Tom

--

So where was the hug-a-thug crowd last week when Statistics Canada released data showing serious assaults, including assault with a weapon, have been on the rise for at least 10 years in Canada?

We keep hearing from the John Howard Society types that all violent crime is on the decline and as a result, there is no reason for justice reform.

Oops. The data doesn’t quite match up on that one.

As I reported last week, the rate of assaults with a weapon or assaults causing bodily harm was 95.7 per 100,000 people in 1983, according to StatsCan. In 2008, that rate jumped two-thirds to 162.9.

John Howard?

Despite all of the political spin by the hug-a-thug crowd that all violent crimes are on the decline, we also find out that aggravated assault rates in Canada are up over the past 10 years, too, about 23%.

It’s tough when the facts get in the way of a good story, isn’t it?

How about assaults against peace officers? They’re also up, about 32%.

Obviously the coddling, early parole, statutory release, 2-for-1 credit, conditional sentence approach isn’t working when it comes to serious assaults, where people get maimed and scarred for life. Because we're seeing higher rates of them.

Higher rates of innocent, law-abiding people getting hurt by scumbags who should be behind bars, not out on early parole, conditional sentences or statutory release.

The evidence is pretty clear. But the lack of response from the John Howard crowd is deafening.