Hey Mr. Harper....Pay Gordo His Bribe!

PayHim
PayHimMyMoneyDownVille

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Please see the Update to this story here, wherein we discuss the not inconcievable possibility, based on past statements by the Finance Minister Gordon Hansen, that the witholding of the bribe may have been instigated by the government of British Columbia itself.
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Remember back when Gordon Campbell sprang the HST on us out of nowhere after telling us repeatedly, over and over and over again, that his government was not considering any such thing?

And remember how, to much fanfare he then told us that Stephen Harper was going to help pay for it by shipping us 320,000,000 red mittens at five bucks-a-pop (either right or left).

Which means that the real pricetag of the bribe was $1,600,000,000.00.

Of our own money.

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Now.

The 2009/10 installment of Stephen Harper's bribe that was to be paid to Gordon Campbell so that the latter could then screw British Columbians over royally with their own money was, allegedly, $750,000,000.00.

Except, it turns out that we have received is actually received so far is nowhere near that amount.

Andrew MacLeod had that story yesterday in The Tyee in his initial report on Mr. Campbell's latest budget that, based on past performance, is very likely not even worth the pixels it was printed on.

Here is Mr. MacLeod's take on how and why this year's installment of the bribe is going to fall way, way short:

".....Even since the September budget update (of Gordon Campbell), corporate income tax is off by a further $252 million, natural gas royalties by $190 million and HST rebates have added another $227 million expense. On the plus side the province is picking up $311 million more in transfers from the federal government and this fiscal year will include $395 million of the $1.6 billion in federal compensation for adopting the HST.

The documents also show that the province received $250 million of that compensation in 2009-2010, instead of the planned $750 million. The shift was because of the federal government's cash flow, said Hansen. “It's not something we have unilateral say over.”.....

How do you like them mittens.....errrrrr...apples?



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And for those wondering.....There is absolutely no evidence, or even a shred of truth to the most scurrilous non-existent rumour, whatsoever, that the good premier has been taking rHRTGH*






(*aka recombinant Human Red Thumb Growth Hormone)
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