Reply to "letter from "the boss""

I’m with David on there being merits to both sides of this letter, and Ron makes some great points too. The tone of the letter is clearly of someone who has gone beyond the end of his rope.

There are a lot of days recently when I feel that the amount of red tape I have to navigate, and risks I endure just to run my businesses while following the rules, are not worth the return. I treat my people extremely well, pay well, ensure they have a safe workplace and the proper tools to do their jobs well — and they do. It’s a fair trade of work for pay and I return all the loyalty they show to their jobs. We’ve had plenty of slow weeks and never a layoff in 15+ years.

The thing that governments don’t get is that the balance is shifting well into the red now. North American business can’t compete with those in many other countries where the wages, burden of labour laws, environmental regulations and taxes are substantially lower. To me it has always been worth it to run my companies where I do because I know that the quality of life is great and the return on my investment (physically, mentally and financially) allows me to enjoy a great life. That is changing because the mental and financial investments are climbing substantially and the return is dropping.

I haven't reached the point where I will close it all down, but I am getting closer. Partially, no doubt because I have lived fairly responsibly and saved almost enough to survive without it, and partly because I am getting older, more tired and less able to endure the crap. And then I look back and I see what generations before mine had to do just to obtain a tiny fraction of the comfort and wealth that most now take for granted and I think maybe we really ARE just a bunch of whiners.

Mark