As important as can we balance the budget? if not more so, is the question of how will we balance the budget and what will we have to give up to get there? While undermining Canadas economic recovery, the rush to balance the budget has also impacted federally delivered services. The biggest cuts were made in areas where Canadians most heavily rely on the federal government, says Macdonald. It is not a stretch to say that veterans and the unemployed, for example, will be deprived of services for the sake of hurrying a return to federal surpluses. https://policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/budget-balanced-expense-veterans-unemployed-and-safety-study And lets not forget the massive reduction in transfer payments to provinces to pay for health care. But not to worry, its not like Canadas aging population is going to care about our health care going away. huffingtonpost.ca/2012/07/27/premiers-health-care-funding_n_1709372.html After years of brutal austerity, with a six billion dollar surplus in hand, theres no real public discussion about what Canadians might want to do with their money. rabble.ca/columnists/2014/10/right-pushes-more-austerity-despite-surplus So lets start with a look at what weve given up to create that surplus and get us here. thestar/opinion/editorials/2014/10/12/what_did_we_give_up_to_lower_the_deficit_editorial.html And yes, >63% of us dutifully contribute to EI and then are told were out of luck and on our own when we need help from the program that we helped fund. pressprogress.ca/en/post/unemployed-good-luck-getting-ei-eligibility-hits-all-time-low-0 And then we can look, with a shudder, at what the income splitting proposal really means. For wealthy families that can comfortably afford a stay at home parent and arent struggling with child care costs, or other basic needs, its yet more money in conveniently full pockets. For 86% of Canadian families (the poorest 86%, if you hadnt already guessed), it creates no benefit whatsoever. Instead it costs, because in addition to this plan not specifically helping them, it also drains the governments cofffers further, costing government revenue $4.9 billion dollars a year hereafter, which will not be available to spend on other programs that might actually benefit the majority of Canadians, or that an increasing number of us are reliant upon to get by. Its a one-two punch which someone incorporates a middle finger. https://policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/income-splitting-tax-gift-canada’s-rich-study “The more you spend time with this data, the more you realize this is inequality by design. We often bemoan inequality, and that we have to push to make Canada a more equal place. But this is government instituting a less-equal Canada on purpose. This isn’t an accident.” thestar/news/canada/2014/01/28/harper_governments_incomesplitting_plan_would_favour_rich_tax_study_finds.html And if that doesnt make you angry enough, the impact on the provinces is equally unfair. Ontario, for example, will lose a billion dollars in tax revenue as part of the plan, while Alberta miraculously remains virtually untouched by it. Convenient for Mr. Harpers base in Alberta, no? thestar/news/queenspark/2014/10/29/stephen_harpers_incomesplitting_plan_would_shortchange_ontarians_cohn.html All so that we can promote a kind of family policy that apparently pretends we are in the 1950s again. nationalnewswatch/2014/10/30/the-conservatives-propose-family-policy-for-a-bygone-age/#.VFKv3YeS-Cg And those tax rebate checks will be appearing in your mailbox just in time for the upcoming election. Nothing convenient to the government about that, is there? ca.reuters/article/domesticNews/idCAKBN0IJ1Q220141030?sp=true So there you have it: Harper government economic priorities as plain as the nose on your face: magnify inequality by design, screw the provinces hes not so fond of while sheltering Alberta, and create a structural deficit of further shrunken tax revenues to justify telling the nation once again that we cant afford social programs the nation desperately needs.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 18:29:32 +0000
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