Western Town Halls - Garth Turner's 'Lost Tory Tour'

Courtesy of: The Turner Report

More than a dozen public Town Hall meetings in ten Western Canadian cities have been called to let voters speak, and to hear MP Garth Turner. The meetings form the central part of "The Lost Tory Tour" Turner is on during the first two weeks of September, and will take place in Winnipeg, LaBroquerie, Regina, Kelowna, Vancouver, Surrey, Abbotsford, Victoria, Duncan, Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer and Edmonton.

All of the events have been organized by local residents, and will take place at no cost to taxpayers. Garth Turner is scheduled to speak on the topic of "What every investor and homeowner should know," and will deal with the current economic and financial reality faced by Canadian families.

Town Halls will take place in some locations where voters have had little, if any, opportunity to interact directly with an MP. "Given some of the recent decisions of the federal government," Turner says, "such as raising income tax, reversing course on income trusts, vastly increasing government spending or letting mortgage rates rise, it's only responsible to let folks speak directly to a member of the House of Commons."

Turner, elected as a Conservative in January of 2006, was expelled from the Stephen Harper caucus last October. After sitting as an independent MP for four months, he joined the federal Liberal caucus in February, 2007. Turner has been described as a lifelong Conservative, having been twice elected as an MP, and having served as a cabinet minister and run for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party of Canada. In addition, he's been a best-selling personal finance author, broadcaster, columnist and lecturer.

"The fact these meetings are even taking place is significant," Turner says. "I would not be on this trip if I'd not been invited by people living in these communities. By and large, they have responded to my digital democracy initiative, and asked me through my blog to come and meet them, and their neighbours, in person. It is a great honour to do so

"It's also interesting to note a tour like this would never take place," Turner said, "were I still a member of Mr. Harper's caucus. Stephane Dion believes, as I do, that an MP's place is among the people, not being cloistered and controlled in Ottawa."

Schedule of confirmed Town Hall meetings, September 4-13, 2007.

For more information contact:
Esther Shaye
(905) 693-0166
esther@garth.ca

---

LaBroquerie, Manitoba, Sept 4 at 3 pm

LaBroquerie Hotel

---

Winnipeg, Sept 4 at 7 pm

Crescent Wood Centre
1170 Corydon Ave.

---

Regina, Sept 5 at 7 pm

Travel Lodge
4177 Albert Street

---

Duncan, Sept 6 at 5 pm

Warmland Café
The corner of Station and Craig St.

---

Victoria, Sept 6 at 7 pm

Monterey Centre
1442 Monterey Ave.

---

Surrey, Sept. 7 at 7:30 pm

Strawberry Hill Hall,
12152, 75 Avenue

---

Vancouver, Sept 8 at 10 am

Holiday Inn
700 Old Lillooet Rd.

---

Abbotsford, Sept 9 at 2 pm

Matsqui Auditorium
32315 South Fraser Way

---

Kelowna, Sept 10 at 2 pm

Holiday Park Resort
415 Commonwealth Rd.

---

Kelowna, Sept 10 at 7 pm

Mission Activity Centre
4398 Hobson Rd.

---

Edmonton, Sept 11 at 2 pm

Stanley Milner Library
7 Sir W. Churchill SW

---

Edmonton, Sept 11 at 7 pm

Old Timer’s Cabin
9430 Scona Rd.

---

Red Deer, Sept 12 11:30 am to 1:00 pm

Dino’s Family Restaurant
4617 Gaetz Avenue

---

Calgary, Sept 12 at 2:30 pm

Engineered Air Theatre
205 8th Ave.E.

---

Calgary, Sept 12 at 7 pm

Ross Glen Hall, Mt. Royal Col.
4845 Mt. Royal Gate SW

---

Lethbridge, Sept 13 at 7 pm

Royal Cdn Legion
324 Mayor Magrath Dr.S.


For more information contact:
Esther Shaye
(905) 693-0166
esther@garth.ca

---

Lost Tory Tour BACKGROUNDER

Who is sponsoring this tour?

MP Turner is traveling to communities in response to local invitations, from local Liberal MPs, candidates, or readers of his blog. There is no sponsoring or umbrella group.

Is the Liberal Party behind this?

No, but the office of the party president and the leader have assisted with some details, such as coordinating local meeting notices.

How have events such as Town Halls been organized?

All events, including public meetings, stakeholder group meetings, speeches, mainstreeting and a motorcycle run, have been organized by local citizens and community groups.

Who is paying for this?

MP Turner and his wife Dorothy are using flights allocated in his existing office budget. Local volunteers are providing ground transportation. Most hotel rooms have been donated. Other costs will be paid personally by Turner. The goal is zero public cost.

Is the income trust lobby group CAITI involved?

It has no role in this tour, other than to inform its members of the time and location of public meetings.

Does MP Turner speak for leader Stephane Dion?

No. Turner presents his own independent point of view and his remarks have not been vetted by the leader or his office.

What qualifies Turner to make this tour?

He was invited to speak in each of the 12 communities.

What will he be speaking on?

‘What every investor and homeowner should know.’

This is a summary of the financial and economic track record of the Harper government, and its implications in our current volatile and uncertain environment.

Income trust move still dogs the Tories

The Conservatives' decision to crack down on income trusts still haunts the government nine months later and could do so right up to the next election.

In the latest twist, U.S. authorities have indicted a Louisiana stockbroker on charges that he used the Internet to threaten Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and his family...More

The only thing a politician has is his word. A message to Stephen Harper from Ralph Klein

Former Alberta Conservative Premier Ralph Klein criticizes Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty for their handling of the Income Trust issue.



The video makes reference to a 'Stockchart' which compares the broader TSX Market Index, TSX Energy Index, current price of Oil and the TSX Royalty Trust Index. The royalty trust index trails the non-trust energy index by 25% as a result of the Harper government action against trusts on October 31, 2006. The chart is located here.

Garth Turner Income Trust Town Hall Meetings coming up in August

Sunday August 19, 3 pm

Brookville
Nassagaweya Community Centre, Guelph Line

---

Monday August 20, 7 pm

Burlington
Tansley Woods Library, Itabashi Way

---

Tuesday August 21, 7 pm

Oakville
Oakville Civic Centre, Trafalgar Road

---

Wednesday August 22, 7 pm

Political speech, Port Hope, Ontario

---

Thursday August 23, 7 pm

Milton
Hugh Foster Hall, Brown Street

---

Saturday August 25, 3 pm

Kilbride
Ella Foote Hall

---

One-third of Canadians over 60 worry they'll outlive their savings, assets: poll

Published: Sunday, July 15, 2007 | 1:20 PM ET

Canadian Press: GREGORY BONNELL

TORONTO (CP) - One-third of Canada's senior and near-senior citizens are worried they'll outlive their bank accounts, and half of those over 60 holding jobs say they're working because they need the money, a new poll suggests as a record number of Canadians face the so-called golden years. More...

Flaherty Must Retract Income Trust Lie

John McCallum Responds to Jim Flaherty's quote in todays Packet and Times

For Immediate Release
July 13, 2007

Flaherty Must Retract Income Trust Lie

OTTAWA – Given that the RCMP has completely exonerated the Liberal government from any wrongdoing concerning income trusts, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty must immediately retract his utterly false claim that Liberals “leaked the information” that caused people to lose money in the stock market, Liberal Finance Critic John McCallum said today.

“Mr. Flaherty knows full well that the RCMP thoroughly investigated whether there was a breach of information, and completely exonerated the Liberal government,” said Mr. McCallum.

Mr. Flaherty is quoted in today’s Orillia Packet and Times commenting on the Liberal plan for income trusts saying:

"The Liberals had a plan to do precisely what we did … They then leaked the information. So, then people lost money on the stock exchanges in Canada due to their incompetence."

Mr. McCallum pointed to the RCMP’s own February 15, 2007, press release which says “the RCMP has conducted an exhaustive investigation.” He further noted that no one associated with the Liberal Party was charged with any wrongdoing and that the RCMP took the extraordinary step of saying that “the investigation into the income trusts matter is now concluded.”

“Mr. Flaherty and his government are rightfully facing a lot of anger from Canadians on their own handling of the income trust issue, but that doesn’t make it a right to lash out and lie about the Liberal government’s handling of this issue,” said Mr. McCallum. “There is a government that cost investors billions of dollars in income trust losses, but that is Mr. Flaherty’s own government.

“I know Mr. Flaherty is angry because Prime Minister Harper hung him out to dry by so brazenly breaking the election commitment not to tax income trusts, but that does not justify Mr. Flaherty deceitfully claiming that the Liberals had ever planned to do what the government did on income trusts or continue his party’s outrageous falsehoods against the Liberals when the RCMP has found the allegations are baseless,” said Mr. McCallum

Mr. McCallum noted that today’s comments were just the latest misstep by the Finance Minister. He listed other examples of Mr. Flaherty’s incompetence including:

• Declaring an end to all federal-provincial bickering while delivering a budget that ushered in the most intense period of fighting between the federal government and provinces in years;

• Being forced to amend his own budget provisions on interest deductibility; and,

• Signing an open letter in a Nova Scotia newspaper that led Premier Rodney Macdonald to break off discussions on Equalization.

Contact:

Office of the Hon. John McCallum
MP for Markham-Unionville
(613) 996-3374

---

Flaherty defends income-trust tax; Following John McCallum's recent town-hall meeting in Orillia

Nathan Taylor / The Packet & Times
Friday, July 13, 2007 @ 07:00

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty shot back last night at accusations Liberal finance critic John McCallum made while in Orillia recently.

During a town hall-style meeting Monday, McCallum attacked the Conservative plan to tax income trusts at 31.5 per cent. He then told of the Liberal plan for a 10-per-cent tax that would be refundable for Canadian residents.

The plan is not viable, Flaherty told The Packet & Times.

"The Liberals had a plan to do precisely what we did; they just didn't have the courage or the moxie to do it," he said. "They've had a plan not to tax income trusts. They've had a plan to tax income trusts fully. Now they've got a plan to tax income trusts at 10 per cent.
They don't know what they're doing.

"They operate as they usually do: from a crass political, perceived advantage, and then couldn't even do that well. They then leaked the information. So, then people lost money on the stock exchanges in Canada due to their incompetence."

It's the minister who doesn't know what he's doing, according to one Oro-Medonte Township man who said the decision to tax the trusts has affected him.

"I had about $110,000, and it dropped by about $40,000," Clem Neiman said of his energy trusts.

When the Conservatives took power, Neiman "bought more with the self-assurance that they wouldn't tax them" based on a campaign promise of the same intention.

"Minister Flaherty was over his head and bamboozled by bureaucracy," said the 80-year-old retired general practitioner, who served as Pierre Trudeau's campaign chair in the 1960s and considers himself a "small L" liberal.

Neiman said he doesn't have much to worry about, as he has other investments.

"I sold them and got the hell out. I took the loss," he said, but added "there are a lot of helpless people" who aren't as lucky.

Many senior citizens, for example.

"They tried to soften the blow by saying you can split retirement income. It was merely political pap," Neiman said.

Flaherty admitted a campaign commitment not to tax income trusts.

"It was a tough decision, But what we saw after we were elected was this dramatic increase not only in the number of conversions to the income trust, but (the rate) at which corporations were converting," Flaherty said, citing BCE and Telus. "If we hadn't acted on Oct. 31 last year, right now we would have many of the largest corporations and banks functioning as income trusts, which is a sedentary view."

ntaylor@orilliapacket.com

McCallum blasts income-trust tax

By Nathan Taylor

Tuesday, July 10, 2007 - 07:00

Local News - Three days before federal finance minister Jim Flaherty visits the area, his critic in the Opposition, Liberal MP John McCallum, was in Orillia denouncing the Conservative government’s October announcement that income trusts would be taxed.

At a town-hall-style meeting at Couchiching Golf and Country Club yesterday, McCallum, a former senior vice-president and chief economist with the Royal Bank of Canada, blasted the government’s decision to slap a 31.5- per-cent tax on existing income trusts.

“The Conservative party could not have been clearer during the election campaign that they would not tax income trusts. Partly as a consequence of that, people took the prime minister for his word and flooded into income trusts,” said McCallum, also a former minister of national defence, veterans affairs and national revenue. “Essentially, the government dropped a nuclear bomb on all the existing income trusts.”

Joining McCallum at the front of the room were Simcoe North federal Liberal candidate John Waite and Brent Fullard, president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Income Trust Investors, who is also in opposition to the Conservative plan.

“This tax is designed not to raise revenues. It’s designed to kill this market, force all these income trusts into corporations,” Fullard told the audience of about 25.

After some introductory speeches, the guests opened the meeting to questions from the floor.

“I’ve had bigger crowds, but I haven’t had crowds with better questions,” McCallum said.

Waite set up the forum after receiving numerous inquiries regarding the Liberal plan for income trusts.

“The common response would be to fire back an e-mail telling them to ‘get a life,’” Waite quipped, referring to an e-mail faux pas in April by a staffer for Simcoe North MP Bruce Stanton. “Instead, I fired an e-mail off to the finance critic asking him to come to Orillia to explain.”

Although there’s no set date for the next federal election, McCallum tried to make some fans yesterday by telling the audience of the Grits’ plan: scrapping the 31.5- per-cent tax and replacing it with a 10-per-cent income-trust distribution tax that would be refundable for all Canadian residents.

Flaherty will be at the Horseshoe Resort Thursday evening with his wife, Whitby-Ajax MPP Christine Elliott, for a Simcoe North Provincial Progressive Conservative Association fundraiser.

ntaylor@orilliapacket.com

Orillia Packet & Times

Albertans say it's time to expect more from government

Hard working Albertans, investors and energy trusts want their voice heard in Ottawa

CALGARY, June 25 /CNW/ - Tired of political misdirection and broken promises, energy trust employees and investors are joining with the Coalition of Canadian Energy Trusts (CCET) to launch a new Alberta-focused campaign to demand greater accountability and honesty from the federal government. This action stems directly from broken Conservative campaign promises to not tax income trusts.

"Broken promises will gravely impact our province and the whole country," says Sue Riddell Rose, co-chair of the CCET and president and CEO of Paramount Energy Trust. "We have been told by our unitholders, employees, Albertans, Canadians and business leaders to 'Don't stop now! Keep up the fight!' It is ironic that from the Conservative heartland of Alberta, we hear this message the loudest."

The Coalition is inviting all Albertans to demand honesty and respect from their MPs through a website at www.iexpectmore.ca. The campaign is a joint effort between the CCET, its employees and the Canadian Retired and Income Investors Association (CRIIA).

"I believe we should expect more from our politicians. We should expect nothing less than honesty," says Riddell Rose. "I believe that a promise made should be a promise kept. We shouldn't accept that politicians can get away with not telling the truth."

On October 31, 2006, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty presented his so-called Tax Fairness Plan breaking the Harper Conservatives' promise to not tax income trusts. This decision caused an immediate loss in the market costing investors approximately $35 billion. The federal Conservative government has also unexpectedly removed capital incentives from the oil sands and launched an attack on the energy industry through its recently announced Green Plan.

"I lost tens of thousands of dollars" says Gary Wallat, a retired 71 year old Albertan and member of the CRIIA. "The income derived from Income Trusts helps me meet my living expenses. I trusted the government when they said they weren't going to tax income trusts and I invested my hard-earned money accordingly. To have a Conservative Government which promised accountability and a transparency do something like this is unbelievable. When I voted Conservative I certainly believed they would be more trustworthy."

The campaign features radio and print advertising. Calgarians can watch for the ads to appear over the next five weeks with radio starting today and print beginning Tuesday.

For further information: interviews or campaign materials, please contact: Daorcey Le Bray, NATIONAL Public Relations, (403) 531-0331, dlebray@national.ca

Related:

iexpectmore.ca

COALITION OF CANADIAN ENERGY TRUSTS (CCET) - Previous News Releases

Town Hall Meeting in Edmonton with special guest John McCallum

The Town Hall Meeting Tour goes west!

Edmonton

June 26, 12:00 p.m.

Norwood Royal Canadian Legion
11150 82 St NW
Edmonton, AB Click for Map

Phone - (780) 479-4277

Energy Trusts Pursue Their Case in the Senate

CALGARY, June 20 /CNW/ - June 20, 2007: Canada's energy trusts presented a strong case to the Senate outlining why the government's so called Tax Fairness Plan is simply wrong and should not be advanced in the budget.

Both the Coalition of Canadian Energy Trusts (CCET) and the Canadian Energy Infrastructure Group (CEIG) independently presented to the Senate of Canada Committee on National Finance a compelling case why the tax changes will have a strong negative impact on trusts and, in turn, continue to financially harm millions of hard working Canadians.

Speaking on behalf of the CCET, Marcel Coutu, Co-Chairman of CCET and President and CEO of Canadian Oil Sands Trust, highlighted:

The Coalition has presented an in-depth report outlining the importance of energy trusts and that the government's silence on this document suggests it is not refutable;

The government heard from its own expert witness "inconvenient truths" noting the important role trusts play in the Canadian capital markets; and

The Finance Minister is wrong with the opinion that income trust vehicles do not exist in the United States. Independent research from four months ago notes there were 214 publicly traded trust entities with a combined market cap of $475 billion and that this number has now grown to 225.

Robert Michaleski, President and CEO of Pembina Pipeline Income Trust, presented key points on behalf of CEIG:

Canadians rely on infrastructure trusts for the delivery of half of their oil supply, and a substantive amount of natural gas liquids and natural gas are transported daily;

The long-term infrastructure assets of trusts are similar to the model of REITs (Real Estate Income Trusts) and should be given the same tax treatment; and

The government's stated desire to be a world energy leader could be eroded by potential foreign take over of Canadian-managed and operated energy assets.

Collectively the energy trusts agreed:

Energy trusts do not cause tax leakage;

Taxes are not avoided-they are transferred to and paid by the unitholders at generally higher tax rates;

Energy trusts contribute substantively to Canada's energy security through enhanced production from mature fields and efficient transportation of products;

US energy trusts in the form of MLPs and LLCs not only exist but are expanding rapidly; reversing the trend of cross-border acquisitions:

The CCET and CEIG presentations concluded that energy trusts should be excluded from the tax changes.

For further information: Daorcey Le Bray, NATIONAL Public Relations,
(403) 531-0331, dlebray@national.ca

Related:

COALITION OF CANADIAN ENERGY TRUSTS (CCET) - Previous News Releases

CANADIAN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE GROUP (CEIG) - Previous News Releases