And to think I voted for you. New taxes tend to not bother me - until I'm smacked in the face with them when they surprise me on their "payment due" date. And of course, to achieve maximum "kick you while you're down" effect, tack them on with other fees I had to pay. For absolute bother, ensure that those taxes also achieve nothing! While renewing my car's registration I saw signs warning residents of Toronto that under the new and improved City of Toronto Act the city has new abilities with which to completely mess with our wallets. I'd like to report a robbery "Messing with us" includes jacking up taxes to support the heavily unionized labour force that cleans our parks, fights our fires, and polices the rabble. Now general taxes for housing I've long accepted, as have most people. You own property in a city, you support the services you get. You use specialized services, you pay additional fees. Fine, whatever. If I paid more for driving...
Just when you thought Air Canada couldn't get any cheaper, or callous: sweet merciful crap. That link takes you to a CNN story this site picked up, explaining that Air Canada's regional operator, Jazz, has decided to save 25 kilograms of weight from each flight by getting rid of the life vests. The rules state that as long as your plane is flying within 50 miles of land, it's okay to do this - you can use the seat cushion as a flotation device instead. So as long as I can swim 50 miles I'll be okay? Oh sweet mother - I think I have to sign up for some advanced swimming lessons before going to my next client, which happens to be on the coast. Let's pray and hope - and assume for argument's sake - that in the unlikely event a plane needs to make an emergency landing it doesn't crash and crumple and otherwise disintegrate catastrophically. If you were to look for a place to land and there were no roads in the area, what would be a better touch-down pad? A bunch...