HST and politics

What a terrific morning this has been!

I love this kind of reporting. I learn, I listen, I write - just fabulous. This morning's highlight was a lengthy chat with Scott Fraser NDP MLA Alberni-Pacific Rim. Subjects - wide ranging. Everything from the budget to the HST to the teacher's dispute.

Scott was articulate, intelligent and passionate about his work. He's the kind of man I could vote for so easily. In fact, if I lived in his riding, I'd volunteer to work for him - seeing how much I love politics and how much politics energizes me.

If we elect people like him, we really will get a case of "families first" - not "corporations first." You have to judge a government by its actions, not its slogans. The HST, as Scott said, was the biggest tax shift in the history of the province with 2 billion dollars going directly from our pockets into those of corporations - like forestry. And those corporations received that money as a gift - no obligation to create jobs. What did they do? They closed mills and exported trees to China. China is building mills.

Think about that.

At any rate, I can't write down here everything we talked about - I suspect I'd eventually run out or space. I can say that I love work like this. This is the sort of thing that feeds my soul. These are the stories that make a difference.

Oh - and yes - this is what retirement looks like.