JohnF

Give 'em hell. JF

I think the language used is something like "To bring the boat to the legal standard means a substantial reduction in utility." JF

Seems to me that if they sold you a sub standard product you should at least be entitled to return it for a full refund. Given that the product wouldn't fully serve the purpose for which it was intended with the suggested mods, in other words it's functionality was misrepresented, you should be entitled either to a fully functional refitted unit or the option of your money back. Perhaps you need to ask the question "What happens to the people that sold this to me if I were to go to the courts asking if this product was misrepresented when I bought it." I'd push them a bit. What have you got to lose? JF

But if no one votes for the lesser evil the greater evil wins. What we need are politicians with the will to oppose the party line when it's not in the best interests of the electorate. The partisan pressure is huge and almost always relegates the public good to a secondary place behind what's best for the party. Unfortunately our whole parliamentary system is geared to party politics so we're stuck with it. Even the good politicians get lost in the muck. JF

I have had some pm's asking about the effect of HST on housing so I thought I'd post this link for any who want some exciting bedtime reading http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/gi/notice244/README.html The only tricky part is understanding the transitional tax calculation. Some new house deals will straddle the date that the new tax starts so there may be special calculations involved for you. If you have questions about real estate and the HST just post 'em or pm me. It's time for me to start digging into it anyway. Your questions will give me a bump start. If I can't answer I might know someone who can. I don't like to see any more confusion than necessary in the real estate part of our lives. JF

Ya gotta vote, if only for the lesser of the evils. JF

I got an extended 3 year warranty included with my Panasonic in Kitchener. JF

The way I understand it is going to work is there will be a rebate on new homes under $400k of 6%. IOW the HST will be 7% for housing under $400K. Then the rebate will drop between $400 - $500K and there will be no rebate over $500K. Of course as always the explanations are so obfuscated it's hard to be sure what they really are saying. At the end of the day it looks like we'll pay $28,000 tax on a $400,000 house. Here's where it gets tricky. As I understand it the 8% has been factored into the selling price of the house up till now so if (and that's a big if) the developer/builder is honest about his pricing and leaves the old tax calculation out of the final price then the home buyer will about break even under the proposed system. However, if the builder/developer makes no adjustment to the selling price then the consumer will be paying an extra $16,000. Please don't ask me to go thru the math to get there again. JF

I checked out the new Stradic last night. Super light. $210. Tempted to get one myself to replace the Quantum I lost. JF

I hate the toxic chin burn. Used to have a similar problem with my drysuit. Sure, it's nice and warm at the time but ..... JF

Hell. Even I would be glad to share my wealth of fishing knowledge if he'd fly me to remote spots no man has ever fished before. I'd even bring the scotch, and I'd cook, and wash his sox, and his shirts, and his - no, he'd have to bring lotsa underwear. I draw the line at skivvies, even my own. That's my wife's job. Mebbe if there was room in the plane she could come along. Don't tell her I said this. JF

Bomb the buggers, or find a middle road to survive on and hold out for a few years till the corner cutters get weeded out. There have always been problems in dealing with the competition for a lot of different reasons and most of them have involved pricing of services. Take comfort from the fact that as your competitors succumb to the temptation to cut tax corners, they're almost certainly also cutting quality corners cuz they think they can get away with that too. You take the high road, tax wise and quality-wise, and hopefully you'll be rewarded. It's not like you've got a lot of choices anyway. You can either join the lawbreakers and cut corners and taxes, or tough it out on the high road. It's surprising how often the public twigs to the fact that they are better off paying a little more. JF

What the hey! My wife would like to get me on a diet anyway. JF

Don't you think the revenooers won't be particularly scrupulous about their audits with exactly this in mind. It's pretty much a given that small business operators are going to be pressured to do cash (read tax free) business but I'd resist the temptation cuz I'll bet there are gonna be some serious casualties to the taxman's ire. Stay the course. Eat the tax if you have to do anything. The reward will be when your cash dealing competition goes down for tax evasion and leaves you an open field. JF

I remember coaching (not sure that's the right word) 7 & 8 year olds just starting out. They'd all watched tv and each one as he got his turn as a goalie tried to emulate the big boys. They were lucky just to stand up let alone actually prep the ice. I have some great video of the kids playing on their first travel teams at age 9 & 10. They had slightly more composure but not much more skill. Surprising how fast they grew up after that though. By the time he was 11 our eldest was the designated tough guy. The irony was he was about the least combative kid on the team but he loved the physical game. He could hang a totally illegal check on another player with a smile on his face and a sincere apology immediately after. But that's another story. JF

HD is a whole nuther world. Hockey in HD is awesome. I can hardly sit thru a game in regular resolution any more. JF

I'm not armed for this battle with anything but a good impression of John Wilkinson and the comments of some businessmen I really respect. I'm gonna have to beg yer indulgence till I've had a chance to dig further into this. In the meantime see the links in the response to Solo. I promise I'm still digging into this and will bring back whatever I can learn. I may have a phone conversation tomorrow with a ministry guy and can perhaps get some facts from him. I really want to understand this better for my own sake. I'll share what I learn. JF

Absolutely. Our business is taking it in the groin. It's not the direct hit that will hurt us, rather the effect on the consumer, specifically the home seller. They're going to pay an extra 8% at every turn, and that will in turn make our job tougher and almost certainly hit us in the pocketbook at the end of the day. That's why the Ontario Real Estate Association has been lobbying their butts off for a break for consumers. We've been told all along the way that the deal is already cut and it's gonna happen no matter what we say. I got that directly from John Wilkinson a few weeks ago and from one of his people during a discussion we had last week. I don't like the results of the tax but I tend to believe John (Wilkinson) when he says there are benefits for business (and I'm a PC supporter if anything) in the long run, mainly because I've also been told this by some very bright, very successful businessmen whose opinion I totally respect. I'm nowhere near smart enough to explain how it can benefit business generally but I'm convinced it will given the proponents of the program I do know and respect. I was actually supposed to have another conversation with someone from the ministry this week but he hasn't called yet. Maybe tomorrow. I guess something I said to John made enough sense that he told the other guy to call me. All I want is to get a better deal for home sellers and therefore a better deal for me and my salespeople in the long run. The whole thing is very complicated and perhaps the benefits will take years to surface for all of us but there's just too much conviction being shown for me to believe this is just another example of the usual partisan chicanery. http://www2.canada.com/harbourcitystar/new...b7-c2cff0ccf6fe http://www.collingwoodconnection.com/article/147037 http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/good+pol...5214/story.html Above are some links to explanations that seem to support that the benefits are there, however obscure. I'm doing my best to keep an open mind, and that ain't easy when I know it's gonna be tough for my salespeople and all of the home sellers in the province. I'm not normally inclined to give politicians any leeway but John impressed me with his conviction. JF

Don't you clsim yer ITCs? I've been assured they'll still be a claim. JF

But right now it's factored into the retail pricing structure. Do you think most retailers are gonna reduce their prices by that 8%. I doubt it. They'll leave it in and collect it on the consumer end. JF

I think it's the retailers who will leave the 8% in their retail price, not passing the savings on to the consumer. I'm also told by people much smarter than me that there are other advantages for business in there somewhere and I would need to sit down with some of them to be able to explain it in any kind of detail. Suffice it to say these are very successful businessmen for whom I have a world of respect (at least for their business acumen & success). I won't try to explain it here, mainly because I can't. JF

I learned not to pass gas in my waders unless I had the belt good and tight. JF

I did a ton of research too and it told me that Panasonic was the way to go. Then when I went to the biggest non-box store in the area and asked the salesman who I've known since he was a kid (and he grew up in the biz) which set is best regardless of price he said without hesitating Panasonic Viera. I may just be trying to justify the money I spent but I've not seen a set with a better picture and when I had a minor issue that required service Panasonic was excellent. The service guy came to the house the day after I reported it and fixed the issue plus taking the time to show me a few setup tricks to avoid weird picture distortion. I have a great picture now regardless of the transmission. Hockey and Nascar are phenomenal in HD. JF

Despite all the talk to the contrary the big businesses are excited, among other things that I probably can't begin to understand, about having the 8% pst backed out of their prices so they can keep the high prices and save the 8%. It's more profit margin for them. I argued this with the minister and one of his people a week or so ago but they insist that commerce will be honest. Now I don't for a second believe that today's politicians are that naive so I guess honest is interpreted differently depending on whose eyes it's being filtered thru. I suspect the provincial pols had little choice in this though. The feds wanted it and they have the big hammer (transfer payments and who knows what else) to hold over the provincial guys' heads. This was a done deal long before it went to a vote. In fact I was told it was a done deal by the minister two weeks ago and no amount of arguing or negotiating was gonna change that. The very best we could hope for were some concessions. The real estate industry in Ontario has gone to bat big time over it to no avail although our guys are still looking for some kind of break for home owners. It's not that the tax hits us directly. It's the massive effect it has on our clients and customers. Buyers and sellers are now going to have a huge added tax burden on commissions, lawyer fees, home inspections, surveys, and title insurance to name a few taxable things. The government may even be in the process of trying to mandate energy audits before a house can be sold. The cost of the audit will of course be taxable, but that'll be a drop in the bucket compared to the effect it's going to have on folks owning older inefficient homes, but that's a whole nuther story. If you're thinking of selling and it sounds like they're gonna get the regs created soon you might want to think about selling sooner than later. If you want to know what it means in terms of dollars look around your house and calculate how much it could cost to bring your windows, doors, furnace etc up to modern standards. That's how much you're probably going to be burned for once it's enacted. It's another round of bend over and spread 'em folks. Our elected representatives are into foreplay mode again. Sorry if I sound cynical and I say this as one with a lot of respect for our minister of revenue. I won't even go into some of the industry specific crap we're having to deal with cuz nobody but realtors cares about our problems. JF

I recently got a 46" Panasonic Viera (plasma) and it's great. I had been saying for years I thought the new tv's weren't worth the money but now that I have one i gotta eat those words. Hockey in high def on a big screen is awesome. JF