Editor, The Times:
The other day I was listening to a short blurb on CBC featuring Stephen Harper. As he went on about the wonders of his reign he mentioned ‘low taxes’ about four times — or was it five or six times?
Yet a cursory glance at Harper’s low tax policies show that they’ve been an object failure!
The Right is always saying that everything should be earned. There should be no free lunch!
However, this does not apply to corporate Canada. The latest figures show that they are sitting on about $600 billion dollars — not reinvesting it as they should be in Canada’s future.
But that’s what happens when tax breaks are not targeted. Just give them the money and let them do what they want with it.
Many, Kevin Paige (former parliamentary budget officer) among them, have suggested that if this mild recession that Canada is experiencing continues the best reaction would be a massive public works program. Rebuild Canada’s ‘crumbling’ infrastructure, one might say.
That’s what should be done. One gets the mental image of corporate Canada sitting around clutching their moneybags like some 21st century Scrooges repeating, “Mine, mine, all mine — Stephen Harper said so.”
Repeating low taxes, low taxes low taxes like some mantra or medieval chant simply doesn’t cut it in the real world.
Despite what Stephen Harper says.
Dennis Peacock
Clearwater, B.C
