Who needs enemies with friends like Paul Jackson and Ric McIver?
It frustrates me that local politicians and pundits who defend entrepreneur-friendly, common-sense ideas often come across as petty, careless or misguided. In my opinion, they so often have good sense on their side, why does good judgment elude them?
Jackson is a columnist for the Calgary Sun – he often appears in the Edmonton Sun, too – who loves to attack taxation and government excess. McIver is the Calgary alderman and taxation fighter who stands out because of his close association with the Progressive Group for Independent Business.
In trying to raise awareness for a serious issue – the way businesses are municipally taxed in this province – it is my opinion that these two fellows have done more to hurt their cause than help it.
What municipal taxation needs right now is a strong dose of intelligent reflection, not sensationalizing at the expense of the facts.
We have a transportation crisis in Calgary. Both greater Edmonton and Calgary are facing sprawl that is causing tremendous inefficiencies. Solutions to these issues may well lie in rethinking how we tax businesses and residences – especially the way we link such taxes to property values alone.
But these two tax fighters are not really taking on the issues. They are attacking the status quo only. And they are doing it poorly.
McIver first appeared on my radar screen when he held up the processing of a routine temporary borrowing bylaw that was before Calgary city council last December.
As an experienced businessman, he should have known about cash flow and meeting payroll. He should have known that temporarily borrowing $100 million is no big deal, as long as it’s simply covering the city until residential tax revenues arrive in June.
But taking the opportunity to grandstand, he made himself look ignorant of the way large organizations do business. What a shame.
McIver told me that he was using the opportunity to draw attention to the lack of support he had received earlier in that Dec. 3rd session for a “taxpayer protection” motion. Despite all the harsh publicity he received and the criticism he faced from his fellow aldermen, McIver told me that he would do it again, if only to highlight that fact that he seems to be the only member of council who is concerned about spending.
But it is my view that his delay of a non-controversial, fundamental borrowing measure showed a lack of respect for Calgarians and the democratic process. Respect for due process and grace in defeat are signs of strength, after all.
When fellow aldermen disagree with McIver, the best way for him to deal with it is through smart voting and intelligent debate, not vindictive voting. It sounds like he hasn’t learned this lesson yet, at least not when I talked with him recently.
Which leads me to Jackson.
Jackson and I are in the same business. We both know how important the lead, or first line, of any column is. So when one of Jackson’s pieces about business taxation begins with an unchecked fact, you can pretty much rest assured there is trouble ahead.
Last month, Jackson’s column began, “Calgary Buffalo MLA Jon Lord . . . ” Oh, if only that were true. Lord happens to be my MLA, in Calgary Currie. Naturally, most people don’t know that, and don’t particularly care. But I would have liked to see Jackson be a bit more careful. It would have taken about 30 seconds to verify such a fact on the Government of Alberta website.
But Jackson’s really big mistake comes halfway through his column, when he quotes Lord as saying: “Every year in Calgary 4,000 small businesses go bankrupt.” If Lord actually said this, I’d be amazed.
I’ve talked to him about the issue on at least two occasions. The second time was last September, and Lord clearly stated then that he was not referring to 4,000 “bankruptcies” per se, but the number of business licences not being renewed. He made a clear distinction then, and Lord’s assistant told me recently that Jackson had quoted Lord incorrectly on this matter.
Even if that’s not the case, however, a cursory look at the Statistics Canada bankruptcy numbers would have shown Jackson that nowhere near 4,000 small businesses could have gone bankrupt “every year” in Calgary when, in the year 2000, only 1,710 businesses declared such status across the province as a whole.
In a subsequent column, having been caught by a City of Calgary bureaucrat, Jackson backtracked somewhat, but still suggested a relationship between failing to renew a business licence with a business suffering from over-taxation, an association that is spurious at best.
Common sense would have acknowledged that many licences are not renewed when businesses move, combine, change their name or proprietors, and the list goes on. I’m not even addressing whether 4,000 is particularly high compared to other cities, nor whether a lot of business failures is a sign of strength or weakness in a free-market economy.
Jackson’s arguments are clearly shallow.
What the “right” needs to do is shake the image fostered by the likes of Ross Perot, Ronald Reagan and Dan Quayle, even the Alliance Party more recently – few brains, lots of brawlin’.
McIver and Jackson are not doing their side any favours. I’m almost embarrassed to say I support many of their initiatives.
Some people would have much more success if they just shut up.
I’ve recently had excellent conversations with two articulate, thoughtful advocates for change, Casey Vander Ploeg of the Canada West Foundation and Guy Boutilier, Alberta’s minister of Municipal Affairs. Next week, I’ll get into some of their constructive ideas.
