It would be a hilarious coincidence if it didn’t hurt so much.

Not only is June 28 the date of the federal election this year, it is also the day Canadians can start working for themselves. According to The Fraser Institute’s annual Tax Freedom Day calculations, all income earned by the average Canadian family prior to June 28 was used to pay the total tax bill imposed by all levels of government: Federal, provincial, and local.

Tax Freedom Day falls one day later than last year, nationwide. When the Liberals came into power back in 1993, Canadians could celebrate tax freedom on June 10.

What a difference a decade makes as Canadians who struggle to save for their retirement and put their children through college stagger under a mounting tax burden.

On a provincial basis,Tax Freedom Day actually fell six days earlier than it did last year in Alberta. But before any provincial politicians trip over themselves in the rush to take credit, the improvement is skewed by oil and gas revenues, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Albertans actually work longer to pay off their taxes than they did back in 2001, before Ralph Klein hiked health fees, tobacco and alcohol taxes and licence fees.

Compared to the federal Liberal regime however, Klein is a tax slayer of the first order.

Thanks to a steady increase in federal taxation, we get to work for the government 18 days longer than we did back in 1983.

They promised lower taxes, but instead we got the HRDC billion-dollar boondoggle and the $1 billion gun registry.

Then there’s the AdScam scandal that has prompted the Liberals to resort to a smear campaign as they teeter on the brink of defeat .

If voters buy this campaign of fear and intimidation, they might as well toss their wallets into the ballot box at the same time.

This is the cynical regime that has abused and misused taxpayer funds for more than a decade while allowing our health-care system and military to become threadbare.

Returning them to power is like writing them a blank cheque.

If you think the tax hikes we suffered under a decade of Paul Martin as finance minister were bad, just wait until they realize they’ve got away with their plunder of the public purse Scot-free.

What the hell is wrong with people in this province? According to the latest polls, the Liberals are riding a surge in support in these last few days before the election. This Liberal government could potentially be rewarded for 11 years of corruption and mismanagment with a minority government this coming Monday.

What the hell is going on? Doesn’t anybody realize that a minority Liberal government would likely be propped up by the other two parties on the left, the NDP and the Bloc? We’ll have tax-and-spend governing not seen since the NDP under Bob Rae ruled Ontario.

Guess I won’t be needing this silly wallet anymore…

So the english language Leaders Debate was held in Ottawa tonight. Just a few thoughts..

Overall, not much of a debate… more of a series of speeches and a lot of ignoring. The moderation was pretty poor, and the leaders rarely seemed to listen to what others were saying and rarely got into any real meaningful discourse.

I think Stephen Harper did quite well. Whereas Paul Martin was often on the defensive and even seemed to get frustrated and flustered in debate, Harper was overall collected and clear in his arguments.

For a guy who was so obviously over-coached and instructed to stick to a very specific script, Martin made a lot of references to other leaders’ (specifically Layton’s) handlers. I’m not so sure that Martin’s boys at Earnscliffe have much to be proud of in their boys’ performance tonight. He never really faced off with any of the other leaders, always choosing to address his remarks to the camera, ostensibly to make a connection with the voters. Personally, in a debate, I’d like to see the leaders addressing each other and responding to each other. And to me, his tactics just came off as transparent and forced.

Stephen Harper had a great line at the beginning about how this election is about choosing a government, not a country, at which point he turned to Martin and said, “we’re all Canadians here…” I think he made some good dents in Martin’s “Campaign of Fear.”

Layton really just comes off as a car salesman. I kept waiting for him to say, “What’s it going to take for me to get you into this car today.”

I always enjoy Duceppe in the debates. He had a few great moments tonight calling Martin to task about the sponsorship scandal and his government’s credibility.

I would have liked to have seen Jim Harris of the Green Party included in the debates, if only because it really gets me that a group of broadcasters can get together and decide who will be heard in one of the pivotal moments of an election campaign, especially in a year when the Green Party has representation in just about every riding and look to be poised to take somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5% of the popular vote. He was a guest on Mike Duffy’s Countdown on CTVNewsNet after the debates and had some great contributions to that discussion. I’ve had a look at the Green platform, and I have to say that I’m pretty impressed with them and think that in a decade or two, they could well be a contender on the national stage.

Am I Ghetto or am I Fabulous?

I’ve been pretty busy these past few days, and today is no exception. So today, I’ll just reprint an editorial I read this morning in the local Sun newspaper. For all the flak this paper takes, I find it a refreshing change from the predominantly-liberal media elsewhere in this city (hell, in this country).

They must really be getting nervous in the back rooms of the Liberal Party.

With a series of recent polls — the latest one done for Sun Media — showing support for the Grits in freefall, the party’s marquee candidates, including two cabinet ministers, have taken to showing up at rallies for Conservative Leader Stephen Harper to heckle him and try to embarrass the official Opposition.

Normally at this stage of an election campaign, big guns like Veterans Affairs Minister John McCallum and Immigration Minister Judy Sgro would be working to shore up support in their own ridings, and making guest appearances on behalf of other Liberal candidates who are in tough fights.

Instead, as the Harper bus rolled into Ontario, a Liberal mainstay in recent elections, there they were, shouting questions and doing their best to grab the media spotlight.

Normally that kind of attention-seeking is left to mobs of nameless, faceless party supporters, who heckle from the background and try to get their candidates’ signs in the newspaper and television pictures.

At the rate this campaign is deteriorating, we’re beginning to wonder what we can expect next. Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan tossing a pie? A challenge to step outside to settle the election in the alley?

Prime Minister Paul Martin attempted to defend his cabinet ministers yesterday, attributing the altercations to simple frustration. He said Sgro and McCallum were annoyed with Harper because he is avoiding a debate on issues like abortion and the economy.

We believe that about as much as we believe Martin’s claim that the two ministers showed up in a spontaneous act initiated by themselves — a contention that was almost immediately shot down by a top party official who admitted Sgro and McCallum were actually sent by the Liberals.

Is it any wonder that Canadian voters have been tuning out from the whole political process in record numbers? We have a right to expect more than schoolboy hijinks from candidates who are asking for the right to run the country.

An election campaign lasts just five short weeks — time which should be spent providing the electorate with an understanding of party platforms so voters can make an informed choice when they go to the polls June 28.

Instead the Liberals are resorting to acts of desperation as they contemplate life without limos, executive jets and the other perks of power.

Shame on them

There are way too many Liberal and NDP lawn signs in my neighbourhood. I think it’s time to put in a call to my local Conservative representative and order up a giant blue sign. Just to mix things up a bit.

The Liberal signs seem to be a favourite of local vandals, who’ve taken to cutting out Paul Martin’s face. And I’m not sure why I find it so funny, but I’ve been getting a kick out of Ed! “I put an exclamation mark after my first name” Broadbent’s signs.

This seems as good an idea as any

Jack hits the nail on the head.

A Liberal minority government is the worst thing that can happen to Canada because it will be a Liberal / NPD partnership, the worst possible combination. If the Conservatives don’t win Canadians are in for the worst government we’ve ever had.

Wow. In a traffic accident, which do you think is safer? You may be surprised.

National Post: Why Harper will be the next prime minister.