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Opinion

Politicians focus too much on the wallets of the few.

Published

5 years ago

4 minute read

We welcome opinions from our readers like this one from Garfield Marks of Red Deer, AB.

According to the Ethics Commissioner, Trudeau broke ethical guidelines on behalf of a big corporate entity, SNC-Lavalin, and as expected, it appears, everyone is calling for his resignation. I am confused, but hasn’t almost every politician of a major political party, for the last few decades, been advocating breaks for big corporations and the top 1%.

Didn’t Alberta elect a Premier who had to pay an ethics violation fine when he was a federal cabinet minister? Does he not lead a party who had issues with electoral fraud, kamikaze candidate and members issued $75,000 in fines by the ethics commissioner, due to actions during their leadership race?

Was it not a conservative government that supposedly just gave a $4.5 billion tax break to businesses? Was it not a conservative government that was supposedly lowering taxes for the top 1%? Was it not a conservative government(s) that was cutting services to everyone else to pay for these tax breaks?

Here in Alberta was there not lots of promises of jobs to rationalize billions in tax breaks for corporations only to find out that Alberta then subsequently lost 14,000 jobs in July alone?

I am not saying that Trudeau’s actions pressuring the Attorney General to give a deal to a big company is okay, but don’t they all do special deals for big corporations? Don’t we as tax payers subsidize the oil industry, cow tail to unions, pay homage to gun manufacturers, serve the auto industry, and placate the wealthy? The average voter just pays for them.

My wallet sure feels those political fingers. My costs keep going up, while my income hasn’t kept pace.

My mind has tuned out the politicians, and their desire to woo the rich and big corporations, and my heart is focused on the future, and my family.

Scientists and engineers have made great discoveries and given me some great things like cars, computers, cell phones and medical break-throughs but these same non-partisan intellectuals have also made huge unsettling discoveries, and given me causes for concern.

Issues like climate change, reminiscent of second hand smoke, are concerns to our health and our lives but are not given the same level of regard as tax breaks for the big corporations.

Second hand smoke was a major health care cost but tax breaks for cigarette companies and tobacco growers were the demands.

There is an election this fall and here in my riding there is no contest, as the conservatives will win, then become a seat warmer no one hears about, till the next election. My concerns will be ignored, my wallet will get thinner to placate the more well to do.

I do think it is about time to move on from focusing on the wallets of the few and focus on the health of the whole community. The person or party that can convince me that their focus is on the whole, for the future and not on big corporations and the wealthiest in a realistic manner, will get my support and vote.

Will my wallet survive the next election? I hope so, but I cannot be certain. I am worried we might get a Trump-like Prime Minister out of protest and the climate crisis will be pushed back and my wallet will be front and centre for political fingers for another few decades.

Is there another option?

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Disaster

Aid pours into North Carolina; dozens still missing

Published on October 9, 2024

By

From The Center Square

By 

Tragic stories continue to flow from western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene slamming the Appalachian Mountains nearly two weeks ago.

So, too, is the assistance. The General Assembly convenes Wednesday, with disaster assistance legislation expected to swiftly be passed.

Gov. Roy Cooper toured the area on Monday with Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Personnel are in the area from neighboring states, sent by other governors and the federal government.

The death toll is at least 230, according to published reports. The Asheville Citizen Times on Tuesday afternoon reported 62 missing persons cases are active in the Lake Lure and Chimney Rock communities.

Eight hurricanes since 1950 have killed 100 or more people. Helene is only eclipsed – so far – by Katrina (2005, deaths 1,392), Audrey (1957, deaths 416) and Camille (1969, deaths 256).

Cooper and Criswell, along with U.S. Northern Command Gen. Gregory Guillot and Dual Status Commander Brig. Gen. Wes Morrison, went through Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.

In a release, the state Department of Public Safety said 2,500 soldiers and airmen are in the area with about 500 more coming. The Joint Task Force-North Carolina, led by the state’s National Guard, is paired with armed forces from 12 states, two units from the 82nd Airborne out of Fort Liberty near Fayetteville; the 101st from Fort Campbell in Kentucky; and a number of civilian entities.

More than 6,100 National Guardsman are present, a release from White House said. The Biden administration said it has already supplied more than $137 million in assistance, and more is expected.

Cooper’s administration said more than $33 million in FEMA assistances to individuals had already been paid to more than 109,000 people. More than 2,100 are housed in hotels through FEMA transitional sheltering. Nineteen shelters are open, with an estimated 780 people and 95 pets.

The Department of Public Safety said more than 1,300 responders from 35 state and local agencies have executed 107 missions of response and recovery. Cooper said North Carolina has used 417 specialized vehicles and 26 aircraft to help in search, rescue and supply delivery.

“These communities are home to family-owned businesses and neighbors who are helping one another,” Cooper said. “We will continue to work with western North Carolina to respond and recover from this catastrophic storm.”

In addition to the government aid, scores of churches and other organizations have sent tractor-trailer loads of supplies.

Tuesday midday, there were 622 road closures because of Helene across the state. This includes three interstates, 50 federal highways, 51 state roads and 518 secondary roads.

Published reports say the grim findings have included corpses discovered as landslides are cleared. Swannanoa and Hot Springs are two communities reportedly “obliterated.” Chimney Rock, a popular tourist attraction, was also hard hit with rushing water through the main thoroughfare.

“It has been a long 11 days for the people of our mountains, and it’s reaching the point where folks are just tired,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., said in a release. “We will get through this.”

Many in the region remain without running water, electricity and even the ability to travel. Eighty-six water systems, Edwards said, are on a boil advisory; 15 treatment plants have no power; and 27 systems are out of water.

Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida the night of Sept. 26. Its remnants sped through Georgia and soaked the higher altitudes of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Helene had tropical storm force wins stretching 420 miles, larger than the state of Georgia.

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Daily Caller

Nearly One Million Foreign Nationals Flocked To US For Asylum In 2023, Shattering All-Time Record

Published on October 9, 2024

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

 

By Jason Hopkins

Nearly one million foreign nationals applied for asylum in the United States in fiscal year 2023, showcasing how dramatic the immigration crisis has become under the Biden-Harris administration, according to federal data.

There were a record-setting total of 945,370 asylum applications filed in fiscal year 2023, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Not only were these the highest numbers in recorded history, but the report confirmed how applications in both categories of asylum — affirmative and defensive — nearly doubled in one single year under the Biden-Harris administration.

Affirmative asylum applicants are largely defined as non-citizens who initiated their asylum application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Foreign nationals who request asylum before an immigration judge during removal proceedings are considered defensive applicants — these applicants typically include illegal migrants and other non-citizens who are in violation of their status.

There were 456,750 affirmative asylum applications in 2023, the highest on record and nearly doubling from the 241,280 affirmative asylum case filings lodged the year before, according to DHS. In 2023, 488,620 defensive asylum applications were filed, the most ever recorded and almost doubling the 260,830 filed in 2022.

The DHS report also unveiled how initiatives championed under the Biden-Harris administration have resulted in explosive growth in asylum applications for certain nationalities.

There were less than 15,000 affirmative and defensive asylum applications lodged by Venezuelan nationals in fiscal year 2021, according to the report. That number skyrocketed to 173,190 in fiscal year 2023. Similar trends were also seen in Cuban, Nicaraguan and Haitian applicants during this same time frame.

These four nationality groups are included in the CHNV program, a parole initiative launched by the White House that has allowed hundreds of thousands of them to fly into the U.S. The CHNV program, which has been plagued with fraud, has so far paroled roughly half a million foreign nationals into the U.S. since it launched in January 2023, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The Biden-Harris administration has also helped streamline the asylum application process by expanding the role of the CBP One app, which allows foreign nationals to apply for asylum on a daily basis outside of the U.S.

Border Patrol agents have encountered more than seven million illegal migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, according to the latest CBP data. While an executive order handed down earlier this year has recently dwindled the number of illegal entries along the southern border, the backlog of cases currently pending in immigration court rooms has already reached record levels, causing immense strain for federal immigration staffers attempting to process the crisis.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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