Lipstick on a pig award

This weeks winner is NDP Bill Estabrooks, He was on the air today with Rick Howe didn't stay around long enough to talk to any members of the public in fact he didn't even mention them in his factless speech. They talking to staff, to council everybody but us the people who will pay for this white elephant. He said its a give and take deal but did not mention that its our money that they are giving and taking. We were told that this would be an "open" deal but he then went onto say that he didn't want to discuss it in public. Remember this party was voted for because they were different. Can you see a difference? I cant. Here is a short article from local free lance writer Professor Stephen Kimber, It calls a spade a spade and equates what is going on to the Commonwealth Games fiasco. Speak up or you will pay up. E Mail Bill, The Premier and The mayor and tell them no you (who will pay for this half a billion deal) can't afford it!

Mayor Kelly kellyp@halifax.ca

NDP Honourable Bill Estabrooks Estabrooksenergyminister@gov.ns.ca

NDP Premier Darrell Dexter premier@gov.ns.ca

Urban Compass by Stephen Kimber

FROM METRO HALIFAX

June 25, 2010 3:50 a.m.


Last Friday, a group calling itself the Coalition to Save the View held a press conference to release its analysis of four reports on the financial viability of a new convention centre for downtown Halifax. Promoters want the province to ante up one-third of its $300-million cost.

You may recall that when those vital-to-understanding-the-business-case reports were first released last winter — following a freedom of information request from (let the record show) the coalition rather than any media outlet — they were so heavily censored as to be unintelligible.

At the end of April, under orders from provincial Infrastructure Minister Bill Estabrooks, the reports were finally released, almost in full.

Initial media accounts claimed the reports supported the convention centre. While technically true, such conclusions, the coalition countered, “can only have resulted from a very superficial reading of the reports.” The coalition’s documentation includes four, small-type pages filled with quotations from the reports, each raising doubts about the case for the convention centre.

Between caveats — one report concedes it was prepared “without the benefit of any primary research” — and quietly acknowledged facts — a “huge supply of underutilized facilities in the U.S.” is forcing convention marketers to deep discount or eliminate rental rates entirely in order to attract ever fewer conventions — the coalition argues the reports don’t actually make the upbeat case they claim to.

The coalition’s own analysis indicates it will cost governments far more to cover the interest on borrowing funds to build the centre than it will recover in additional tax revenues.

“There’s no business case,” the coalition concludes.

Rather than responding to the substance of those arguments, Halifax Herald business columnist Roger Taylor began his day-after-the-press-conference column this way: “It must be difficult for a group calling itself the Coalition to Save the View to argue that its opposition to a new convention centre in Halifax is anything other than an attempt to prevent high-rises from being built in the downtown.”

Huh?

Taylor coupled his swipe at the coalition’s motives — he didn’t mention that one key report in favour of a new convention centre was written by the executive director of Convention Centres of Canada, a convention industry-promoting agency — with a no-numbers, no-analysis attack on its conclusions. “The coalition’s effort to fight the project on economic grounds,” he wrote, “fell short.”

Of what exactly?

The convention centre is beginning to sound like the Commonwealth Games all over again. With promoters and the puff press urging us to drink the Kool-Aid — without wanting to tell us what’s really in it.

– Stephen Kimber, the Rogers Communications Chair in Journalism at the University of Kings College, is the author of eight books.

Bruce DeVenne

Kiss the NS tax cap good-bye

Contrary to his and his party's election promises of no tax hikes Premier Darrell Derter's derriere hardly had the legislative chair warmed when they announced they were increasing the sales tax taking millions more out of the pockets of Nova Scotians. His unquenchable thirst for our money has all but shut down the retail gas business in Amherst as people cross the border to get cheaper New Brunswick gasoline. I suppose he had to pay for all those GPS systems, cameras, laptops and all the other goodies our elected officials seem to feel they are entitled buy with our money. Premiere Double D is now teaming up with that other well known spender, our Mayor Peter Kelly. They are teaming up to bring us even more horrendous costs with little or no benefit to the tax payers.
The province will trade the old convention centre to the city for city owned land. No indication yet what land but I have the funny feeling HRM will get the shorter end of the stick once again. The city will turn this into offices (suddenly we need that many offices?) at what costs we can only imagine. They will then build the new convention centre. The old one was a provincial owned deal but now, in true Liberal fashion, Premier Double D will download a portion of that cost onto us the ratepayers in HRM. That's right people you will pay your portion of the provinces cost and absorb even more because you live in HRM.
How will that financial Vaudeville team of Peter and Darrell pay for this? We were recently given a hint, the removal of the tax cap! They mentioned it, there was no great outcry so before too long you will see it vanish and your home taxes will sky rocket.
Remember the blended sales tax was tossed around, then signed into law as a voluntary thing but the good old Liberals under John Savage latched onto in and took hundreds of millions of more tax dollars from our pockets annually.
Remember they have to pay and subsidize the new convention centre. Mayor Peter Kelly wants $55 million plus for a new library while St. John NB can build a police station for $22 million plus and don't forget about Peter Kelly's high speed ferry that's still lurking in the background.
There seems to be no limits to their imaginations when it comes to spending (read squandering) our money and end to the ways and amounts they will take from us.

If you don't think the new convention centre is an economic hole in the ground take 15 minutes or so and read what the rest of North America says about them without the hype and unfounded statements that you get from you politicians. http://www.governmentripoff.com/001.html

Remember the lies and waste when this bunch both civic and provincial come knocking next time looking for you votes.
Bruce DeVenne