FEDERAL BUDGET DUE NEXT WEEK
Tuesday, February 26th, will be Budget Day in Parliament.
The Finance Minister will try to paint a rosy picture – relying on statistics that reflect the economic momentum that built up in Canada over 12 years of strong Liberal management between 1993 and 2005.
During those years, we eliminated decades of deficit financing, balanced the books, cut taxes, paid down debt, stimulated economic growth and generated 3.5 million new jobs.
Liberals left for our successors the strongest economy, the best fiscal situation and the cleanest set of books in Canadian history.
But look what’s happened since!
Canada is on the brink of a significant economic downturn. It’s not evident everywhere yet – partly camouflaged by world prices for commodities like oil and grain – but trouble is beginning to show in the livestock sector, the forestry industry and manufacturing. And it’s likely to get worse.
The problem for people, sectors and regions having difficulty is this – the Harper government has squandered Canada’s capacity to help them. They’re being told “… go away, the cupboard is bare”.
In just two years, the Conservatives have blown Canada’s fiscal security.
On the spending side, Mr. Harper has become the biggest spending Prime Minister in history, but few Canadians can name one single thing they’ve gained from all that extravagance. Can you?
And on the revenue side, by concocting an incoherent hodge-podge of tax giveaway schemes to please their privileged friends, the Conservatives have seriously undermined Canada’s tax base.
There has been no meaningful cut in personal income taxes, so the average taxpayer is no better off. The tax system has become more complex, more inefficient and more unfair. And there’s still nothing to boost competitiveness, or encourage savings, or bolster the disposable incomes of middle-income families.
That’s just bad Conservative management!
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