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Congressional Report, June 10th, 2010

Hello, and welcome to the first Congressional Report of this term!
As planned by our Prime Minister, Dade Pendwyn, there will be regular updates on the happenings of Congress being publish to the public, through these reports. Each topic in the Open Door discussions section of the eCanada forums (which can be found here: viewforum.php?f=40 ), will be examined, summarized, and exposed for all to see. In essence, this is the TL😉R version of what is currently happening in Congress.

So enjoy the article!

Economic Policy Proposal, June 3rd

The Economic Policy Proposal is aimed at ensuring that eCanada has a wide and diversified industrial base. The reasoning behind this proposal is that eCanada has a very diversified workforce, with many players specializing in a single skill, therefore eCanada must also have a strong domestic industry for each product. This ensures that eCanada is not too reliant on any single sector, to prevent the risk of an economic downturn if this industry has a 'down cycle'.

The actual proposal for this Economic Policy is split into two stages, being firstly, a change in taxes, and secondly, the introduction of the Competition Bureau. These two stages are being proposed as separate proposals, each getting their own topic of discussion.


Economic Policy Proposal, Stage 1: Taxes, June 5th

The first stage is to equalize manufacturing taxes. It states the importance of equalizing taxes in the interest of fairness, so that an advantage is not given to a particular sector over another. These changes will not affect the purchasing power of citizens, as the proposal of the Competition Bureau, which will be explained later, whose mandate is to ensure that eCanada's domestic markets are competitive, adequately supplied, and affordable.

The specific tax changes are as follows:
--- Foo😛 Import Tax increase from 35% to 60%
--- Weapons: Income Tax increase from 9% to 11%, and Import Tax increase from 25% to 60%
--- Gifts: Import Tax increase from 20% to 60%
--- Moving Tickets: No change

Support for these motions have been overwhelming. In fact, except for a minor point which was resolved, support for these motions has been so great that discussions for changing the Land Industry taxes have also been proposed in this proposal's discussion.

Lastly, these motions have been passed in-game by Congress.


Economic Policy Proposal, Stage 2: Competition Bureau

This stage has not yet been proposed in Open Door Congress, but it has been explained in the original Economic Policy Proposal thread, so I will quickly explain it.

The proposal is to create a new Crown entity, who's mandate is to ensure that eCanada's domestic markets are competitive, adequately supplied, and affordable, and who will report to both Parliament and the citizenry. This Bureau will be given the tools to protect and develop the economy, so that Parliament will not have to constantly get involved with the economy using import taxes.

The purpose of the Competition Bureau is to regulate prices in eCanada by comparing prices in certain foreign markets, and ensuring the price charged in eCanada is not out of range, or the highest.

The three proposed tools to be given to the Bureau are Publicity (publicize the findings, encouraging business to enter the market), Reverse Auctions (subsidy to encourage companies to upgrade their quality), and a Crown Corporation (run by the MoI, it would establish a price ceiling and operate only until the price has stabilized). If the Bureau demonstrates an imbalance in competition or purchasing power, the Bureau will be allowed to use these mechanisms successively until the situation is rectified.

This proposal has not been thoroughly discussed on it's own yet, it is still waiting for it's own proposal in Open Door Congress, but no major opposition has risen to the proposal yet.


Proposal Changes to Anti-Bribery Act, June 7th

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=136
The Minister of Justice has come to Congress requesting that the Anti-Bribery Act be removed and amend the Criminal Code to include 'Bribery' as a punishable offense. The reasoning for this request is that the definition of 'bribery' is said to be flawed in the Act and should be updated.

The Minister of Justice has written an amendment for this and is waiting on discussion and debate on the issue.


We need a war!, June 2nd

The idea of beginning a war has been raised for Congress. Though, nothing specific, it uses the reasoning that our soldiers have slightly inactive in the past little while, also that declaring and winning a war will raise morale, increase our population, and strengthen our economy.

Discussion about this idea has been mixed, but mostly towards the opinion that we should end the war with eFrance before considering entering into another war, also that the current timing for another war may not be an advantage for us.


Law Proposal on Citizen Fee, June 5th

An in-game proposal for increasing the citizen fee from 5CAD to 6CAD was proposed, of which each Congressmember was to vote 'No' for, due to there having been no discussion on the matter.

A subsequent proposal was put forward in Open Door Congress, suggesting a motion identical to that of the in-game proposal. The reasoning for this proposal is to give an advantage to each new player that joins eCanada and support them financially just a little bit more.

Discussion for this proposal has been mostly against it. It is argued that an increase in the citizen fee will only be money lost, since many new players simply quit the game and the money cannot be recovered. Though, during this discussion, the idea of reinstating the 'Forum Bursary' was brought up, which had also been talked about last term.


How Tank Budgets Are Spent, June 9th
The General of the Canadian Armed Forces has presented a short history of Tanking in Canada to Congress, as a reminder that 'tanking' is approved only by the Country President and his Minister of Defense. The CAF, and it's High Command, had been blamed in the past for its use of 'tanking'. It also provides a brief explanation as the the General's views on 'tanking'. History is a marvelous thing indeed.


Ref Link, June 7th

The discussion of using the 'sign-up' link on the eCanada forum front page has been revisited. This time an offer is made that the referral link is added to the 'sign-up' link, and in return the referrer will pay 25Gold in return for 3 referrals, after which the link will be returned to normal.
There has been very little discussion on this topic and the offering player has stated that he will change the referral link, until he receives 3 referrals for his Society Builder medal, unless there is an argument against it.

End of Congressional Report.

Well, that is what Congress has been up to for the past little while. There are some very productive and respectful discussions that are currently going on, so I would encourage everyone to visit the forums more often and check it out for yourself.

Remember, Congress-members are elected by you. So if you have any suggestions, questions, complaints, etc, you should always feel free to send them a message, or post in one of the Congressional Offices, found here. Or you know, you could just leave a comment here.

See you next week!
Kronos Q
Minister of Congressional Reports