2 more Canadian troops killed

No end in sight

Two more Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan have been killed, bringing our country’s military losses for the now four year old mission to 39 soldiers. With fatalities rising rapidly this year, the latest death total now amounts to roughly 2% of the 2,000 troops currently stationed there.

One death does not a trend make, but, sadly, dozens do.

I don’t expect any real leadership from “we won’t cut and run” Harper on this file. Repeating Bush’s slogans is not going to do us, or the Afghanis, any good, and its clear from Harper’s record from 9/11 onward that he is unable to do anything but.

Some time ago it became clear that various players opposed to foreign occupation, and those interested in waging civil or cultural wars against their own countrymen, were learning lessons from Iraq. The worlds only super-power has been unable to stem the tide of guerilla warfare in Iraq, and that tide is rising against Canadians in Afghanistan now too.

Like to bamboozle? Consider career as Finance Minister

Will McMartin’s latest installment on B.C.‘s finance minister, Carole Taylor, and other political figures from B.C.‘s past, mixes a good dose of humour with an important message. Pertinent to the health care story of last week:

According to the budget released in February, health expenditures last year totalled nearly $11.5 billion. In the current year they’ll be just over $11.9 billion, or $446 million higher than the previous year.

Here is the question: by what amount did the finance minister claim to have increased funding for health this year—a) $446 million; b) $821 million; or c) $1,950 million (that is, “almost $2 BILLION”).

The correct answer is c) “almost $2 billion.”

Confused? Of course you are. According to British parliamentary tradition, and even B.C.‘s own Financial Administration Act, the legislature only may approve expenditures for one fiscal year. (It’s called the “principle of annuality,” and is practised in democratic countries around the world.)

In the current fiscal year, B.C.‘s Legislative Assembly approved a health expenditure increase of just $446 million. That’s all.

But Gordon Campbell’s government presents three-year spending plans with each annual budget. So this spring, while the budget for the current year lifts health spending by $446 million, it also outlines an increase of $237 million next year (2007–08), plus another $138 million in the year after that (2008–09).

The latter two increases have not been approved by the legislature, and they may never occur. But that hasn’t stopped the BC Liberals from claiming credit for them.

Moreover, where most people—you know, taxpayers, and other simple, honest folk—would calculate the three-year increase at $821 million ($446 million + $237 million + $138 million), the Campbell government adds up those same numbers and arrives at $1,950 million. (See pp. 11 and 20 of Budget and Fiscal Plan, 2006/07–2008/09, here.)

That’s because they figure that the $446 million will be spent this year, and then it will be spent again next year along with the $237 million. And in the final year, the $446 million and $237 million will form a base for the $138 million. You add it up like this: $446 million + $446 million + 237 million + $446 million + $237 million + $138 million.

Got that? The new, improved total is $1.95 billion.

Just like that—presto!—a rather modest funding lift of $446 million has been transformed into a gargantuan boost of “almost $2 billion.”

(Do not try this at home. If you measured the growth of your children in this fashion, they’d be over 20 feet tall by the time they left home, and your grocery bills would be huge!)

The rest is worth a read, too.