We Are All Guilted Out!

Are there no end to the demands of groups to fund their special interests? Are taxpayers the bottomless pit for progressive demands? Does any political party in Canada actually care about taxpaying Canadians? Do we need to wake up and start our own Tea Party?

Today, 50,000 Quebec nation citizens showed up in support of bringing back the Quebec Nordiques. Good for them, I support hockey also! We here in Edmonton need a new rink too. Only difference is that we actually have a NHL team called the Edmonton Oilers, who we have supported through ownership battles and poor performance, every year, year in and year out.

Here's a question, if the 50,000 Quebec Nordiques fans who showed up today, gave $100 each towards the arena, would they still need to suck so hard at the taxpayer trough, or could they start funding the arena on their own? Same goes for the Edmonton Oilers fans. Why do these hockey fans expect taxpayers to pay for their sports excitement? Support it yourselves. Go out and find industry sponsors, convince them that their money is better spent on sports than any green initiative. Hold lotteries, like Stars Ambulance does. Isn't that ridiculous, our life saving Ambulance service needs to fund raise, but artists and athletes, who save no-one, get free money? Fund it yourselves. Taxpayers can only pay so much for every-bodies "goodies". We are all guilted out!

Next example, PEI, needs repairs done to the Home of Confederation. Okay, I can understand this one, but as a home owner, I wonder how they let things get that bad.

"There have been problems over the years," Mr. Baglole said in an interview. "Initially, the federal government put in a lot of money for restoration, which was great, but then interest faded."

Not only is the physical facility deteriorating, the space is devoid of the glamour, purpose and ceremony that the landmark building deserves, he said.

"There is a feeling that it is quite a static place. There is not much happening. I'd like to see a much larger presence of the provincial government and the story and interpretation of the story of democracy and P.E.I. in the building.

I've been there, I pictured the Fathers of Confederation sitting there, building Canada into a nation, it left a lasting impression with me. If Mr. Baglole thinks the place is stale, maybe he's the problem, not the building. The bottom line is that they want money to fix it. Taxpayers money. Three years ago it looked perfectly fine to me. I think it should be preserved as a great part of our history, but can you get your hands out of our pockets? How did the Confederation bridge get built? Could you hold a lottery? Something other than going whining to the federal government to get money. Why didn't you mention this when stimulus money was available? No, you wanted a sports center in Summerside more, didn't you?

I am tired of every special interest group in this country with their hands out for funds when real poverty exists on our reservations and when truly handicapped people are barely able to survive. You want a hockey arena, get off your butt and start fund raising to get it. You want houses for low income people, stop whining about it, and hold a lottery. If people really support your cause, they will fund it.

Government is not Mother Cash Cow, giving endless milk to all who show up, most wanting only the cream, and not the skim. Get off the taxpayers teat, it's been wrung dry by too many causes without results. We are all guilted out, our pockets are empty, and our quality of life has decreased. Leave us alone.