Let’s start a new category for the Jordan Bateman and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, beginning with this gem from Geof:
In December 2014, Bateman wrote on his blog that PST exemptions for things like food should be eliminated. “Charge it on everything, but knock the overall rates down,” he wrote.
In February 2012, he criticized Translink for resisting fare gates. Those same gates are now under heavy fire from proponents of a No vote. Here’s Bateman then: “Thank goodness then-transportation minister Kevin Falcon didn’t listen to the TransLink ‘experts’ and went through with fare gates.”
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I agree 100%, although i would not reduce PST . I would reduce income taxes. Cities need taxation room, and it has to come by a reduction of taxes taken on the provincial and especially federal level. Er should lower federal income taxes to a flat 15%, from 25-29%. Then cities can tack on taxes for transit, social services, parks etc.
Though I think we have reduced public services (and therefore taxes) too much, I agree with the general principle of creating more tax room for cities.
I found those on Bateman’s blog on taxpayer.com – the second one simply by doing a Google search for “site:taxpayer.com fare gates”. I suspect the blog is a goldmine.
When the same source has such contradictions, it tells us that they don’t have any principals.
It isn’t like they stated they they were wrong or anything that I can see, they just are now, and in an almost Orwellian way, have always been against the fare gates.
I’ve hardly done an exhaustive search, but I tried to find Bateman saying he was against the fare gates. As far as I can tell, he is very careful not to say he is against them in principle. That would be difficult to square with his continued criticism of fare evasion. Instead, he goes after Compass, then turns it around and uses Translink’s claim that fare gates will reduce evasion to nail *them* with a charge of hypocrisy! That looks to me like classic Swiftboat-style propaganda: if you have a weak point, pre-empt your critic by accusing them of it.