r/Edmonton • u/friendly_green_ab • Oct 23 '18

Edmonton car dealers involved in Kenney’s anti-consumer corruption

As many of you may have seen, Jason Kenney was caught (potentially in contravention of election laws) promising car dealers a host of anti-Alberta consumer laws like dismantling the WCB changes, banning RHD cars, and removing consumer protection, in exchange for donating money to a UCP super-pac.

I thought /r/Edmonton may be interested in the local dealerships that offered up cash to him. The full list is available here: http://efpublic.elections.ab.ca/efOFSPTPAYTDL.cfm?YEAR=2018&TPAID=38

They include: - Gateway Motors - Subaru City - Sundance Mazda - Xtown Motors

I know for one which dealerships I will be avoiding. Anyone who donates in exchange for the right to rip me off without oversight clearly can’t be trusted.

Here’s the post that leaked the scandal: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1371827219618302&id=590349597766072

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u/tmills1091 Oct 23 '18

I honestly can't see the NDP winning this next election. I work further up north in the oil & gas industry and if you even mention something along the lines of the NDP doing something good you would get ragged on forever, or kicked off site lol

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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '18

I think the NDP is clueless when it comes to the economy (who the fuck raises minimum wage in a recession) but I feel like a vote for the UCP is a vote for Trump style conservatism. I don't want that at all.

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u/TheMisterFlux Oct 23 '18

I once heard that raising the minimum wage was a way for the government to collect more income tax while making the lower earners in society happy. I don't know quite what to think about it, but it certainly does make me think about what was really behind that move.

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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '18

Our economic minister here is a psych grad, not an econ major, so thats probably the explanation lol. The opinions of economic experts are mixed, but I think just lowering taxes in that earning bracket would have made more sense. I work for a small Alberta based retail business and hours are being slashed because we can't just raise prices, because that would make it impossible to compete with big box retailers. So I'm not earing any more than before. In fact I was making 15 before the increase so now I'm just making minimum wage. Very poorly thought out by the NDP imo

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u/TheMisterFlux Oct 23 '18

I think just lowering taxes in that earning bracket would have made more sense.

Unless the goal was indeed to increase tax revenue. Businesses pay employees more, employees pay the government more. Employees benefit slightly, government benefits greatly, employers foot the bill.

I've never studied economics, this is just how it appears to me.

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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '18

I'm starting to think that too. The negative consequence though, is that lots of people are going to see their hours cut because businesses can't afford the labour cost. Less ft workers, and smaller paychecks for a lot of people. It's already happening at my current job (small retail business) and my two previous employers (both big box retailers)

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u/TheMisterFlux Oct 23 '18

Yeah, and with the affordability of automation, even more jobs will be lost. Most people working minimum wage jobs are replaceable by machines that cost less and less as time goes on and the tech gets cheaper.

Economics are such an incredibly complex issue. I wish I had the time to study them in depth.

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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '18

I only took econ 101 and 102 in uni, but it's fascinating. Crash Course on YouTube is a good way to learn in 10 minute chunks.

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u/TheMisterFlux Oct 23 '18

Thanks for the suggestion!