Bacon Scrapins – “A Stop Sign Chat”

by Barry S. Wolfe

Bacon Scrapins are the little bits of meat left in the greasy fry pan. They’re tasty, but the ‘nutrition’ needs searching for. This tale is a bacon scrapin.

Warm days with clear blue skies are not to be wasted and this one brought me, and several others, out for a walk around our ‘9-stop-signs’ sized neighbourhood. You can walk it in about an hour if you keep a steady pace, but stops to chat could take you all day. Which is how I met up with Harold at a corner stop sign.

Harold is retired from a successful career in business and is deemed by those in our community to be a steady, usually discreet, well-informed gentleman. So, after the required courtesies about weather, I was surprised when he said, “I guess they won’t be replacing these stop signs anymore if that fellow at Queen’s Park has his way!”

“What? No stop signs? What are you talking about? I asked.

“Well he’s decided to not charge for car license stickers. Just in time for the election coming up in June. Those license renewal fees were to help pay for building and maintaining roads and vehicle infrastructure – like stop signs.”

“I heard something about, ‘You know better how to spend your money than the government.’ so he’s giving it back.” I mused.

Harold was getting unusually wound-up. I could tell by his eyes. “Giving it back? We know better? We know better how to design, build and maintain roads? I ran a business of over 200 people and none of us knew how to build a road, or run a hospital either. Government isn’t a business!”

“So, if government isn’t a business, what’s it for?” I probed.

“Humph! A business picks a target of select customers and it’s designed to make a profit from them, as large a profit as it can get away with on the market. Business won’t provide many of the services that only governments can take the risk on for everyone. A business is accountable only to its owners, stockholders, and investors. They want profit. Governments have to provide their services to everyone and they don’t need to make a profit. In fact, in many cases, they don’t even break even on their costs through user fees, so we pay taxes.”

“User fees and taxes!” I added.

“Sure. You pay taxes at a rate that your income puts you at. The more you make, the higher the rate you pay, it’s called ‘equitable by ability’. Not equal, just ‘equitable’. In return for taxes, everyone has equal access to essential services, like hospitals, freshwater, police and fire and emergency services, roads – and stop signs. Fees are paid by some users!”

“So, what’s the problem with eliminating car license sticker fees? It will just come out of our taxes we pay.” I suggested.

“All out of our taxes. The users’ sticker fees were intended to be paid as a top-up by those who drive on the roads. It helps pay for the small government offices nearby where you can get government documents completed easily. No fees, you watch they’ll start closing offices, making it harder to get service. Then they’ll privatize it so some insider can make a profit – like the 407 toll road. License fees subsidize road signs that have to be replaced. We’ll have to pay more in taxes to make up for the $1.1 billion lost user fees. Nothing’s free!” Harold exclaimed.

“Isn’t it all just the same amount of money all coming from the same place – us?” I asked.

“Absolutely! Except, this blonde guy in Queen’s Park is trying to ‘buy our vote’ with Ontario’s money. It’s the old con of ‘bait-and-switch’ by a Con. politician” he concluded.

“What’s next?” I mused.

Harold had a suggestion. “What’s next? These guys will use the no fee for a dangerous item like a vehicle, as a rationale to eliminate any fees to register things even more dangerous – like guns.

“Well, Harold, that makes my day warm and fuzzy!” I commented as I turned, waved and continued my walk with a scowl.