There are 308 federal ridings and there are over 308 community projects that people contend bring their communities, their provinces, and even the country prosperity, recognition, and fame. The problem is: how do you pay for them all?

One solution is to have “user-pay”. These “projects” aren’t hospitals, schools, and they don’t house police or fire personnel. Why should they be publicly funded? Why shouldn’t the users foot the bill?

Brandon-Souris has The Keystone Centre. Whether it is used as an agricultural exhibition center, a concert hall, a convention center, fairgrounds, or rodeo arena, The Keystone Centre is big business. The problem lies in properly funding the facility and ensuring that funding comes from only direct and indirect beneficiaries of the Centre.

Right now, some people in Brandon believe that taxpayers in Nova Scotia, through federal taxes, should pay $5 million for the Keystone Centre barn expansion. This is a hard pill to swallow considering that it is hard to convince people in Killarney, Neepawa, Glenboro, or Virden, Manitoba that they should be forced to fund this expansion (through both their federal and provincial dollars). It is, however, more conceivable that people in Manitoba are more direct and indirect beneficiaries of this facility than anyone from outside the province. If we have to run to Ottawa for everything we want in a city (or the region), we are going to start losing our quality citizens.

D’Arcy Barker is a Chartered Financial Planner and Registered Employee Benefits Consultant- www.barkermoney.com

E-mail: ReduceYourTaxes@barkermoney.com