Last Meeting March 5, 2019
President, Brian Street chaired the meeting and gave the invocation.
Don Evans accompanied us on the piano for the singing of O Canada.
Joe Lopushinsky, Sergeant-at-Arms, introduced visitors and guests.
President's Announcements:
- Bill Dauphinee's curling team won again last night. Into the finals now...!
- If anyone missed it last week, you can order a copy of Off the Edge, the Oscar nominated documentary (1977) featuring Blair Trenholme. Let Carolyn know if you'd like a copy; she will be passing the orders on to Blair March 11th.
- Kaz Kadono, invited Rotary members to the Walk in Canada Talk on Japan event that was held on Tuesday evening, March 5th, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The program is rooted in the belief that exchanges between Japanese and Canadian can nurture the friendship of the two countries at a grassroots level. A delegation of people from various backgrounds was created to travel and discuss the future of the relationship between Japan and Canada.
- Our Club is a silver sponsor for the S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Gala being held on March 16th at the Bayshore Inn. See information being sent on a separate email for details. The goal is to fundraise $500,000 to help community youth. Contact Min Kuang if you'd like more information.
- We have another Club Day coming up in a couple of weeks. What did you think of the format of the last Club Day? If you have any feedback, suggestions or would like to volunteer to make a presentation, contact me [Brian] or Carolyn as soon as possible.
Parisa Adrangi, incoming 2019-20 Secretary, provided the Secretary's announcements:
- reminders of upcoming events/meetings (see above)
- birthdays: Victoir Wu Mar05, Stephanie Lawton Mar07, Adriana Zylmans Mar07, Adrian Mastracci Mar11
- member anniversaries: none this week
- wedding anniversaries: none this week
Special announcements and members' moments:
- Gary Chomyn of RC Vancouver Sunrise launched the 2019 Hoop-a-thon for the Club. The date will be Saturday April 27th @ Strathcona Community Centre. Noted is that the biggest impact of this event is building the community of kids staying in school. In 2017 $11,000 in scholarships were given out, this increased in 2018 to $15,000! The hope is that we can increase further this year to $20,000. Gary is really pleased that all four Vancouver Rotary Clubs are involved this year.
Please consider supporting this great event as a fundraiser, cheerleader, team member.
The Young Professionals Rotaract Club has challenged the Rotary Club to come up with a team that can beat them dropping baskets. It is on!!
- Gerry Glazier and Rene Abi-Rached presented Sarah Stewart of Aunt Leah's Place with a cheque in the amount of $5,625 to be used to furnish one of their houses. By way of some background: For 30 years, Aunt Leah’s Place has been helping kids in foster care and young mothers achieve a better future by providing guidance, supported housing, job training and coaching on essential life skills. They believe every individual deserves to feel safe, cared for, and have a sense of belonging. Unfortunately, this is not a reality for many teens in the foster care system. When they “age out” of government care at 19, they find themselves completely alone. Aunt Leah’s Place often provides the only thread of care and continuity for youth whose lives are marked by abuse, neglect, abandonment and multiple foster home placements. Over the years, they have seen how support at this critical time can help these young people realize their potential while becoming resilient, independent adults.
Program:
Bill Davidson introduced this week's speaker, Kris Sims, Director of the BC-Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Kris Sims is a seasoned journalist. She spent a number of years in Ottawa covering federal political issues but also spent time in the courts where she saw youth in need many times. She congratulated our Club for the ongoing support we provide for youth.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) started as a grass roots organization in Alberta and Saskatchewan working to fight the GST. Usually such organizations fizzle out once the issue at hand is resolved or no longer top of mind, however, this was not the case for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. It lived on and is now right across Canada.
The Federation is not all doom and gloom, they do try to have some joy with the work they do. Take, for example, the annual Teddy Goverment Wast Awards.
CLICK HERE for a report on the 2018 awards.
The Federation is a watch dog for new and emerging taxes, such as the B.C. Carbon Tax. They have approximately 150 thousand supporters and donors, many of whom feel so strongly about particular tax issues that they want the CTF to intervene. The CTF will send their lawyer(s) in to represent others, such as the province of Saskatchewan with the federal government.
Once example to look at is the federal carbon tax. The federal government is holding up the BC carbon tax as successful. This is simply untrue. B.C. first stated that the cost would never be more than $30/ton and all revenue from the tax would go into development of green technologies. Today:
- cost is $35/ton, going up to $40/ton on April 1st
- CO2 emissions have gone up, not down
- the money collected has gone into general revenues.
Obviously, not what was promised and not what can be deemed as a "successful" tax.
The Fraser Institute stats show that we pay on average approximately 40% of our income on various taxes. The more money taken in taxes, the less we, as business owners and individual citizens, have to support our communities through discretional spending, sponsoring non-profits, youth sports, etc. The Employee Health Tax is a great example, it is not a simple tax, but is triple dipping - completely unreasonable.
Kris wanted to leave us with yet another example, the spending issues in the B.C. Legislature. We have all seen the reports where certain individuals have been excessively spending. The Clerk of the Legislature was earning a salary of $347,000, the same as the Prime Minister of Canada! The PM must post, available to the public, all spending receipts. The Clerk did not have to adhere to any public scrutiny; there was no requirement for posting expenses at all. They were not subject to the Freedom of Information Act until just last week!
The CTF allows people to push back. They shed light on what may be otherwise unseen issues regarding how taxpayer money is being spent. They hold politicians accountable and empower all citizens to act.
Kris left us with the message that it is our right to speak up and push back when we see wrong doing. The CTF has resources to help, check the links below.
- Canadian Taxpayers website, CLICK HERE
- Article, 19th Annual Teddy Government Waste Award Winners, CLICK HERE
Meeting adjourned with a toast to a fair taxes.
