Canada an "IDIOCRACY"?

Us beavers have to ask ourselves if our form of self-government hasn't turned into an "IDIOCRACY"?

We recently elected a Conservative government because it is better to elect the anti-consumer we know than an ex-patriate we don't know and wouldn't trust in our canoe on a calm lake.

But really... we canuks haven't figured out how to run our country. It seems our skill and intellectual levels peaked at coaching a team of 8 year old hockey players.

Our government-directed economy favours the growth of fewer and fewer companies forming price-gouging business cartels in almost every industry. Establishing successful new businesses in any industry is as rare as a civil servant demanding to be paid at par with the private sector.

There is no price competition any more in any sector of our economy. Have you tried to get a reduced rate on your auto insurance or your life insurance lately? Do you drive 90kms out of town to get a 4% price reduction on your gasoline? Have you actually got a lower mortgage rate from one financial institution to the next? Have you noticed that each big box chain store retailer never actually prices at the "suggested list price" anymore? Even car dealers don't allow their sales men to offer a discount... and then watch out for all the extra hidden charges they have made up? (same on your service bill)

Have you tried to buy a plane ticket to paradise lately? The prices go up and down daily depending upon the tickets sold. Groceries have gone nuts! Soon they will tax our home-grown fruits and vegetables. Hockey tickets are outrageous. The medical and pharmacological players might as well be privatized as they are gouging OHIP and OHIP is charging us a gazillion dollars to control the prices of medical care. (By the way, did you realize that medical expenses for car accidents are billed at higher than OHIP rates to the insurance companies?)

And what about the CRTC's communications industry cartels? The consumer is being gouged while the CRTC protects the industry from new competitors. Energy costs are rising like swamp gas in a cesspool. Privatizing Ontario Hydro was like plugging these guys directly into our beaver lodge's bank account.

It sure looks to me like we are living in a financial dictatorship run by companies colluding on supply and prices, who are supported by our government bureaucrats and naive politicians.

Even our "Competition Bureau" has never gone after these cartels and instead they have gone after the most competitive sector in our economy, real estate. If they suceed in their latest attack on the Toronto Real Estate Board they will severely reduce the competitiveness of the 90,000 independant realtors in Canada and set the stage for the corporatization of this industry.

Canadians have tolerated the gradual increase in government regulatory powers and control over consumer acquisition of family wealth. But, the ordinary beaver didn't expect that industries would be allowed to also control supply and prices for their insatiable greedy ambitions. Canadians are experiencing the oppressive powers of extreme capitalism and extreme socialism.

Nobody, other than the CFP, is offering the solutions to this conundrum. The "idiots" are controlling us, the "idiots" are not changing the rules, and unfortunately... the "idiots" elected all of them! This is why we have evolved into an "IDIOCRACY".

Slap your tails on the pond!

Bob the Beaver