Won’t let the feds push us around

Dear editor: The Merville General Store in a remote part of Vancouver Island is owed a ton of money by Canada Post.

The store also has a café, a beer store, a liquor store and a post pffice. On March 3, I discovered the unpleasant fact that Canada Post was 53 months in arrears; in fact the government owed the store $30,000.

Guess what? The culture of entitlement attitude in Ottawa assumed the total amount owed could be put off for an indefinite period; in other words what the federal government was saying to this business proprietor was, “Go to hell, we are not going to pay the full amount, like it or lump it.”

Last week Canada Post contacted the store owner, proposing to pay what the government considered was a "reasonable amount." Canada Post sent a cheque for $10,000, unfortunately for the store owner, Ottawa still owes him $20,000.

The store owner is rapidly running out of cash flow; he has bills and salaries to pay, LCBO has cut him off. He cannot order liquor on credit. The beer distributor has cut the owner some slack, he can order beer on credit.

I believe this Vancouver Island business could be the last straw that breaks Canada's back. Fifty years ago when doing business with a government department, the banks saw a government cheque as money in the bank, even if one had to wait 60 or 90 days for the cheque to arrive. Banks automatically authorized overdraft protection to the client. What went wrong with a time honored system that kept the wheels of industry turning?

Elvena and I published TruckSpeaker: a western truck and equipment trade paper from 1993 to 2010.

Our claim to fame was a class action (2002 to 2007) launched by our lawyer against Revenue Canada for 2,500 long haul truckers.

During those years, federal civil servants, RCMP and Canadian Forces personnel travelled "tax free without receipts" for road meals and daily incidentals; meanwhile the private-sector, unincorporated Jack and Jills were obligated to file receipts for the funds they spent on the road.

All too often CRA refused the Jack and Jills the rights to claim their road expenses against their income tax returns: The system was rigged against the little guy:

TruckSpeaker defeated CRA. Our victory changed the travel expense claims entitlements rules for more than two million taxpayers in all occupations that travel to earn their living.

TruckSpeaker has agreed to share our "CRA's defeat information" with the Vancouver Island store as an example about how they may demand their full payment from Canada Post. Ernie Slump Penticton

By the way, Ron, you are not totally innocent of desecrating the “Queens English” in your written submissions.

Last year, I wanted to contact you about incorrect word usage and misquoted aphorisms. Joy Lang Penticton