Alberta Politics Thread

[Locke]

I want to chime in on this. I dont know the specifics in this instance but this sounds like short-term disability.

The thing about short-term disability is that it is typically non-taxable income but Government agencies (AHS/ATA/Etc) self-insure. So instead of being paid through an insurance company they pay for it themselves.

I dont know if it applies in this example, but there you go. The only way that it isnt an abuse of time off is if its short term disability.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Weitz

On CTV they mentioned any time over the 16 weeks requires something from a doctor.

Not anything before.

Also it mentioned insurance kicked in some after the 16 weeks. So almost all the time is on the taxpayer dime.

And I was sad my 10 sick days got cut to 5 this year.

No way! A manager of a plethora of doctors needs a doctor's note? Where does anyone expect them to get one? Thats practically impossible! Unreasonable.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Locke

I want to chime in on this. I dont know the specifics in this instance but this sounds like short-term disability.

The thing about short-term disability is that it is typically non-taxable income but Government agencies (AHS/ATA/Etc) self-insure. So instead of being paid through an insurance company they pay for it themselves.

I dont know if it applies in this example, but there you go. The only way that it isnt an abuse of time off is if its short term disability.

Came here to post the same thing basically. I would be interested in how many cases there were and whether there was abuse. If it was cases of people with obvious disability issues and they were using the short-term disability coverage, it's not a big deal. If it was people who just wanted some time off and they're not actually sick or whatever then you have a whole other issue...obviously.

[Wiggum_PI]

Originally Posted by Delgar

Until other members of the legislature, be it PC or Wildrose, speak up, I'll assume McIver was being an idiot, but if what he says is true-- the ruling of the speaker was prepared in advance, that is abhorrent and the speaker should be removed.

McIver wasn't being an idiot, what he said was true.

CBC article explains it pretty well...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...pute-1.3542009

[puffnstuff]

Is all the available sick leave an AHS policy or a union policy, as in a negotiated benefit, and are these managers in a union? Lots of questions based off the article.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Is all the available sick leave an AHS policy or a union policy, as in a negotiated benefit, and are these managers in a union? Lots of questions based off the article.

Managers are usually excluded from the union.

[mrkajz44]

Originally Posted by Weitz

On CTV they mentioned any time over the 16 weeks requires something from a doctor.

Not anything before.

Also it mentioned insurance kicked in some after the 16 weeks. So almost all the time is on the taxpayer dime.

And I was sad my 10 sick days got cut to 5 this year.

Do lots of businesses have a specified number of sick days you can take? Everywhere I've worked so far (okay, only 3 places) you just take days off when your sick, but if you take too many, then there are some questions. I was told the magic number was 6 days in a year, which seemed reasonable to me. How are you people getting sick so often?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Do lots of businesses have a specified number of sick days you can take? Everywhere I've worked so far (okay, only 3 places) you just take days off when your sick, but if you take too many, then there are some questions. I was told the magic number was 6 days in a year, which seemed reasonable to me. How are you people getting sick so often?

They just request a doctors note over 10 days (5 now).

We are encouraged to use sick days/time to make appointments, take care of sick kids, if you yourself are sick, etc etc

[stampsx2]

This is disgusting and they have the courage to speak up in the media on how they've been cheated by past governments. When oil prices were high they didn't see the increases apparently. Yet healthcare in alberta is the second highest paid per capita among all the provinces.

Go ahead ndp, keep throwing money at the problem.

[OMG!WTF!]

Did anyone notice the NDP increased their take from property tax? It will be an extra $170 on an average home in Calgary. Slippery crew those NDP.

[CaptainCrunch]

Yup there was a big kufluffle in the papers today about it. Basically it was a way to increase taxes while hoping that people either didn't notice or blamed the municipalities.

[Makarov]

They chose to raise provincial property taxes. Which is clearly a tax. And was announced in the budget. Should they take out a full page ad to announce it?

I mean, debate the merits of a tax increase or this particular type of tax increase all you want, but I just don't see what's sneaky about it? Unless I'm missing something?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Makarov

They chose to raise provincial property taxes. Which is clearly a tax. And was announced in the budget. Should they take out a full page ad to announce it?

I mean, debate the merits of a tax increase or this particular type of tax increase all you want, but I just don't see what's sneaky about it? Unless I'm missing something?

Well consider that they campaigned on not raising taxes on the middle class first of all which goes with the election lie of not putting in a carbon tax, its disturbing.

But jacking up a tax and hiding in in a municipal tax form feels like they were hoping that nobody would notice.

And not saying hey your property taxes are going up by X percentage because of whatever is kind of slimy.

They got busted and then they released a statement.

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by Makarov

They chose to raise provincial property taxes. Which is clearly a tax. And was announced in the budget. Should they take out a full page ad to announce it?

I mean, debate the merits of a tax increase or this particular type of tax increase all you want, but I just don't see what's sneaky about it? Unless I'm missing something?

Let's see the ndp's record so far:

Electricity tax (carbon tax) - starting jan 1, 2017
Home heating tax (carbon tax) - starting jan 1, 2017
Gas prices up 4 cents/litre (carbon tax) - starting jan 1, 2017
Gas prices up another 6 cents/litre (carbon tax) - starting jan 1,2018
Alchohol and ciggarette tax increasing
6.1% property tax - starting this year
Did i miss anything?

But they won't raise the pst and will give carbon rebates to their voter base, so essentially buying votes without looking bad. I'd say that's pretty sneaky.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Let's see the ndp's record so far:

Electricity tax (carbon tax) - starting jan 1, 2017
Home heating tax (carbon tax) - starting jan 1, 2017
Gas prices up 4 cents/litre (carbon tax) - starting jan 1, 2017
Gas prices up another 6 cents/litre (carbon tax) - starting jan 1,2018
Alchohol and ciggarette tax increasing
6.1% property tax - starting this year
Did i miss anything?

But they won't raise the pst and will give carbon rebates to their voter base, so essentially buying votes without looking bad. I'd say that's pretty sneaky.

I'd say its crossed the border into being asinine.

But what can we do? We have to pay more taxes, there is absolutely no way the Government could ever conceivably spend less than the ridiculously frugal amount they currently do. Theres just no way.

[IliketoPuck]

Paging the NDP apologists. For the second time in less than a week.

You apologists are starting to remind me of Oiler fans. Really shrill in the offseason, and then conspicuously silent after a 2-10-1 start.

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by Locke

I'd say its crossed the border into being asinine.

But what can we do? We have to pay more taxes, there is absolutely no way the Government could ever conceivably spend less than the ridiculously frugal amount they currently do. Theres just no way.

The scary part, they're less than one year into their term.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Well consider that they campaigned on not raising taxes on the middle class first of all which goes with the election lie of not putting in a carbon tax, its disturbing.

But jacking up a tax and hiding in in a municipal tax form feels like they were hoping that nobody would notice.

And not saying hey your property taxes are going up by X percentage because of whatever is kind of slimy.

They got busted and then they released a statement.

I don't live in Alberta any longer (though still have strong ties there) so didn't follow the campaign as closely as others may have. I checked the NDP election platform and didn't see any pledge not to implement a carbon tax or not to raise taxes on the middle class. There are pledges to reduce user fees that disproportionally impact low and middle income families and that all Albertans will continue to pay the lowest taxes in Canada (which I suspect is still true.)

If I've missed something, and the NDP did promise not to raise the overall tax burden on the middle class and have now done so (which is not really clear), without a clear announcement and explanation, then that would definitely be concerning. Any links to that effect would be appreciated.

However, if there were no such pledges, and Albertans countinue to pay the lowest taxes in Canada, I'm not sure what all the outrage could be about.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

Paging the NDP apologists. For the second time in less than a week.

You apologists are starting to remind me of Oiler fans. Really shrill in the offseason, and then conspicuously silent after a 2-10-1 start.

One (rather meek, I think) dissenting voice (with a pandful of posts), in what would otherwise be the right wing echo chamber of this thread, and you characterize it as a plague of shrill apologists. Good grief.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Let's see the ndp's record so far:

Electricity tax (carbon tax) - starting jan 1, 2017
Home heating tax (carbon tax) - starting jan 1, 2017
Gas prices up 4 cents/litre (carbon tax) - starting jan 1, 2017
Gas prices up another 6 cents/litre (carbon tax) - starting jan 1,2018
Alchohol and ciggarette tax increasing
6.1% property tax - starting this year
Did i miss anything?

But they won't raise the pst and will give carbon rebates to their voter base, so essentially buying votes without looking bad. I'd say that's pretty sneaky.

Again, this is all in the context of a jurisdiction which, even after all of the listed tax increases, will still have the lowest tax burden in Canada (and one of the lowest in North America), at least as I understand it.

Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.