To the editor:
Postage stamps which I bought a couple of weeks ago were not marked with P (Permanent), but rather with the price: 63 cents. The reason for the change was not apparent at the time.
On April 2, needing to send a birthday card to a grandchild, I was informed that my 63 cents was insufficient postage; 37 cents were needed to take it to the full price of $1, since it was just one stamp. (It would have been cheaper if I had required a whole book).
I realized right there why the “P” stamps had been discontinued—Canada Post, by expecting me to pay the difference between 63 cents and $1, wanted as much of their full “pound of flesh” as they could get, regardless of how ruthlessly they managed it.
In a way, I was not surprised, since this was just one more aspect of the syndrome which is affecting our country
Canada Post is joining its masters at the provincial and federal levels who, whilst trumpeting supposed tax-breaks and extra money for all, are, in fact, are devising a multitude of ways to separate us from our hard-earned cash. It seems that, if there is money to grab, they will grab it.
Lately, newspaper editorials are loaded with examples of what’s going on—unannounced decreases in our provincial personal tax allowance; increases in EI premiums; CPP, MSP and ICBC rates; municipal tax hikes; BC Ferry ticket price-raises and mean-spirited policy changes affecting seniors; postal rate hikes (as mentioned); and accelerated Hydro costs. These are all from just one example editorial: (Leaving Seniors Behind, April 3 Capital News).
But there are many such examples in editorials and articles throughout the country. Newspaper editors and reporters are evidently just as fed up as I am, at the relentless siphoning of money from the pockets of hard-working citizens into the coffers of governments which, all the while, is suggesting that, under their guidance we all have more and more money at our disposal.
Who the people are who gain from the policies of these seemingly permanent governments, and persist in voting for more of the same, I can’t imagine. But let there be no doubt that, in almost every respect, for the past dozen or so years, we have been governed by bunches of self-serving, grasping individuals, who have never had the well-being of the majority of this country’s population at heart.
Surely it’s time for all of us to recognize what’s going on, and do what we can to make some changes at every level.
John Ryder,
Kelowna
