Our provincial government was making news on Tuesday when it announced a new threshold for the provincial homeowners grant in reaction to increases in property assessments.
And should we really be surprised that after the dust settled on the announcement, it turned out the biggest winners were those with properties between $1.2 and 1.6 million?
The news didn’t mean much to most average homeowners, those who owned property less than $1.2 million. Assuming most folks own a home valued at less than $1.2 million means a lot of people didn’t get any relief in this latest announcement.
What about the majority of people who are struggling to get by? Any help coming?
But it was big news for those with those higher-end properties that can now qualify for the homeowner grant. If this isn’t a case of the rich getting richer, we’re not sure what is.
And as we get closer to our next provincial election, how much of this new regulation is built on winning over voters?
Certainly the high-end home-owner may feel better about the governing Liberals.
The next provincial election is coming up in early May in our province and so we are gearing up for the silly season of funding announcements from the government.
Maybe this one was a genuine move to help those that can afford high-end homes.
But we are officially on guard for what will be numerous annoucements over the coming months.
The problem is nowadays, as the media races to get news first, the government is taking advantage.
They make announcements, then re-announce the same announcement and then announce that they made that annoucement, and by the way, would you like a picture of your smiling (fill in name here) MLA?
Far too often in the race to be first, we forget to view provincial government announcements with a critical eye. as the news cycle speeds up, things are missed.
But with an election looming, we are going to be watching government closely and we urge residents to do the same.