Editor:
As we enter the New Year some things need to be considered if Canada wants to move forward in the coming years ahead.
Williams Lake, it seems, lost an important mine development in Taseko’s Prosperity development.
Perry Bellegarde, who was recently elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations has indicated in his recent election to chief, that: “if industry and governments are serious about … wanting to create economic development, we need to be included and involved,” Bellegarde said. “If we’re excluded, nothing will move. Nothing will happen.”
New data from the National Household Survey (NHS) shows 1,400,685 people had an Aboriginal identity in 2011, representing 4.3 per cent of the total Canadian population.
So when it comes to economic development in Canada, according to this 2011 survey, 4.3 per cent of Canada’s population have the power to dictate terms regarding such economic development as pipelines and in Williams Lake’s case, mine development.
This hardly seems like a democratic situation in a developing country like Canada.
At some point in Canada’s developing history this growing inequity will have to be addressed by governments both federally and provincially.
As the situation now stands it seems that 95.7 per cent of Canada’s population is afraid, or reluctant to raise a red flag on this issue.
Where Aboriginals are against economic development there is a total ignoring of where Canada’s money comes from.
Personal income tax is the biggest revenue source.
In 2005/06 it provided $103.7 billion in federal funding.
That’s more than 46 per cent of all federal revenues.
That is income from working people such as pipe line and mining workers.
Revenues from the goods and services tax provided $33 billion, or 15 per cent, of total funds.
Corporate income tax raised about $32 billion, just over 14 per cent of federal finances.
Corporate taxes come from industry, again, such as mining.
Customs import duties, energy taxes and excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco made up $17.7 billion, or nearly eight per cent of revenues.
Employment insurance premiums as part of general revenues contributed $16.5 billion or 7.4 per cent of the total.
Earning by Crown corporations and the sale of goods and services provided the remaining $19.6 billion, or 8.8 per cent of total revenues.
At this point there is no record of Aboriginal contributions to Canada’s income stream.
Doug Wilson
Williams Lake