My secretary and assistant was quite excited to see this letter. She brought it in to me, and we agreed it was very likely a letter of congratulations certainly for embarking on this hiring and job creation program that we had done together. I was quite dismayed upon opening it to find that it was not at all a letter of congratulations; in fact, it was a bill. It was a thing called the payroll tax, a bill for employing.
I was quite surprised to receive a letter from the government of the day. It was with some excitement that my assistant and I opened this letter, thinking perhaps that it might be a letter of congratulations for creating a job. I was wrong. When I opened it, it was not a letter of congratulations. In fact, what it was was a notice from the Finance department of Eugene Kostyra, I believe, saying that I should pay a tax. Because I created a job, I should pay a tax.
Pallister told this little parable quite often, supposedly as a story about big bad government, but it sounds more like the "Tale of the Idjut Who Started a Business Without Knowing What He Was Doing"
I'm trying very hard to imagine who would start a business and hire employees in total ignorance of regulations, fees, and taxes. Is he unaware that a business hires employees when they help it make more money than they cost to hire? That's kind of Business 101, folks.
I'm also trying hard to imagine how he thinks the government pays for our collective social benefits without collecting taxes? Could it be that he thinks government shouldn't provide services for the people of Manitoba?
It might be that his grasp of government is as shaky as his grasp of how to run a business. No wonder he's left the private world for public office—and vice versa—so many times.
But the funniest thing about this story is how Pallister sets himself up as hating the big bad government soooo much. But then he's soooo excited to get a pat on the head from the province. And just sooooo disappointed when it's not that. Poor lil tyke! Make up your mind!