I must reply to Conservative candidate Mel Arnold’s assertion that the Harper government “can be trusted to manage Canada’s finances through the toughest of economic times while still encouraging investment and growth for the future.”
Specifically, Mr. Arnold points to the most recent federal budget, which he suggests was balanced.
Balance, apparently, is a measure of opinion.
Stephen Harper and his, “accountable cabinet ministers and staff,” balanced the budget by selling off about $3.4 billion of shares the Canadian people held in General Motors, raiding the Employment Insurance fund, and then tipping the scale by slashing its contingency fund by $2 billion in each of the next three years.
In household terms, the government broke even by selling the hockey card collection, pilfering the allowance to be paid to the kids when they weren’t working, and withdrawing a bunch of money from the bank — including two-thirds of the savings the family was to put away next year and the year after.
The lack of balance to this latest federal budget was also manifest in who will benefit from the tax changes delivered by the Tories and who will not.
Doubling contribution limits to tax-free saving accounts, introducing income splitting and delivering a universal child care benefit to every family, no matter its income, is not going to be of any help to a cash-strapped household.
Remember, consumer debt to income ratio is running at a record high in Canada at 163 per cent.
Readers should also remember the Conservatives rang up almost $150 billion in deficits over the last seven years before delivering a paltry suspect $1.4 billion surplus.
That doesn’t sound like balance to me.
Voters looking for real balance would do well to consider the New Democrats.
A New Democratic government will reduce the Conservative reliance on fossil fuels by building a new energy economy.
It will establish sector-specific programming to ensure the long-term viability of our manufacturing industry and it will push for buy Canadian procurement policies and encourage Canadian ownership and control of our major industries.
The federal New Democrats pledge to provide for balance in meaningful and sensible ways — principles instead of politics, progress instead of profits, and plain talk instead of propaganda.
Jacqui Gingras NDP candidate,
North Okanagan – Shuswap
