“To be blunt, Canada wasn’t on the mattress when this baby was conceived. Why are you forcing us to share the incubator? Haven’t we done enough already? Hasn’t our economy alone suffered enough collateral damage from the Washington-Wall St. stink bomb? Haven’t we been helpful by giving you access to millions of litres of ethical oil?
this $5.50 head tax kind of reminds me of Alberta fisherman with $50,000 trucks & $30,000 boats refusing to fish in Saskatchewan because the fishing license is $50 or $75 instead of $25.
Now if Napalitano and O’Bummer could just get that $5.50 in arrears from those 25,000,000 sneaky Mexicans!
Let them charge $5.50, we can then charge them 10.00 to come into our country and also charge them 10% exchange rate on their weak currency
This isn’t an issue of great morality. The Americans want to tax people entering their country. That is their right.
You can whine about it, but there is not really much to whine about on the basis of it somehow being unjust.
‘bama just copying the screwin’ we give Yanks who come up here to hunt. $25.00 to get their damn gun across our border and $40.00 export permit to take their deer back home.
It’s another media circus. All we have do is charge them the same–end of story!
Steve:
Why charge visitors from the U.S.? I would give each U.S. visitor $5.50 to encourage them to visit Canada. If they are in Ontario and spend more than $43, the HST collected will be greater than $5.50.
John B;
Perhaps you’ve found a great marketing campaign to not only make BO look petty but highlight Canada.
This is about keeping Americans Isolated nothing more nothing less. $ 5.50 is only the precedent.
Once its accepted than any price can be charged. Any rule applies. Mean while ranchers are dying from drug bandits on America;s Southern borders.
JMO
Yeah, I’d say the “southern” border would be a larger concern.
But hey, he’s YOUR “un-native” born el presidente.
Enjoy him, while he hasn’t blown something up.
But he can do it, I know it!! Just give him time.
Bill Clinton will have to pay a small fortune.
Not to mention the $40 dollars per dear he takes across the border.
Or you could simply start using some of the thousands of unguarded crossings.
I wonder if anyone would be upset if they charged truck drivers $10 every time they cross? Or $100+ per year?
They already do:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/pleasure_boats/user_fee/user_fee_decal.xml
This whole $5.50 thing is not worth getting excited about.
I remember paying a bunch to get out of Costa Rica last year. If one wants to visit a foreign country, one must comform with their laws. Otherwise, stay home.
If ya wanna visit someplace where it doesn’t cost much to get in, and there is no problem with a dollar that exceeds the value of the US greenback, try Guyana. They could use the business.
It pains me as an American to say this, but Mr. Adler is absolutely right.
I guess that I’m the opposite of Michelle Obama. I was proud of my country until her husband became its president.
How stupid do Americans get? Let me think. How to discourage people from coming to our country and buying stuff/propping up our anemic economy? Oh I know! Let’s hit everyone who wants to come here with a tax!
I think Obama likes his recession and is doing everything in his power to prolong it.
Here is southern Ontario, the traffic out of Toronto Airport is declining and the traffic out of Buffalo has skyrocketed with Canadians who do not want the pay the ridiculous taxes and fees required to fly out of Toronto. I would start to get concerned about what the Americans are charging when it gets high enough that Canadians decide to fly from Toronto to Florida, instead of Buffalo to Florida.
Iowa Jim:
Don’t give up on your country. It’s still the best country in the world. Obamas come and go to teach Americans just how valuable it is to defend your way of life. Personally, I have every faith that the American people will do the right thing when given the opportunity.
Keep the faith!
Oh darn! I’d really hoped he wouldn’t steal my change…
ATRIC has it right. The “Hate America” folks are doing a great PR job and it sways folks that really have no grievances against the US to mouth the platitudes. I live on the BC Coast, travel to the US regularly and find nothing to not like about the US that I see and experience. Chargine $5.50 as an Airport Tax or Train Tax is just fine with me.
I read an article today that stated Obama’s spending spree has placed a 30,000 dollar debt load on all American house holds and that’s going to triple in the next three years thanks to interest rate increases. The man is a cornered rat at the moment.
just paid a whole lot more to go to Dubai
Obama is just making all you Canadians feel bad…Bad! Bad!.. No more Oil Sands!.. OK..OK..The sting of a wet noodle…
I’m flying to Canada on Air Canada in a couple of weeks and I’m getting hit with:
Canada Airport Improvement Fee 25.25
Air Travellers Security Charge (ATSC) 12.84
U.S Passenger Facility Charge 3.00
Canada Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST #10009-2287 RT0001) 3.28
September 11 Security Fee 2.50
(From my receipt for the ticket)
Quit whining.
Iowa Jim, hang in there, just like all bad dreams, this socialist monstrosity will go away if enough people get fed up.
If not, we will go down with you.
This is the way of things. The US taxes Canadians. Ottawa taxes Alberta. Canadian cities tax (via the provinces and feds) the rural. The big always bully the small, and steal their lunch money.
John B at 5:10 PM:
Steve:
Why charge visitors from the U.S.? I would give each U.S. visitor $5.50 to encourage them to visit Canada. If they are in Ontario and spend more than $43, the HST collected will be greater than $5.50.
duffman at 5:31 PM:
John B;
Perhaps you’ve found a great marketing campaign to not only make BO look petty but highlight Canada.
===================
Good idea!! If we couple that with a massive “spend your vacation at home” campaign, we could teach BO how things work. I suspect the money they hope to make with this head tax is based on a continuation of the current level of Canadians visiting the USA. If we cut that significantly, they won’t bring much in, but than again, local US hospitality and tourism industries would suffer, but that would also hurt US government revenues. Somehow, I don’t think BO and his crack team think in terms of systems, feedbacks and consequences.