Monday mini-digest
- First, the good news. The Carleton Ravens mens basketball team won its fifth consecutive Canadian national championship this past weekend.
- Now, for the bad. This so-called Conservative government liberally spread around the cash in its second budget today. Highlights:
* No broad-based tax relief, but instead a tax credit of up to 2K per child under the age of 18 - but be careful what kind of minivan you buy to haul the little buggers around because you could get dinged to the tune of four grand if you don't buy the government-approved model. We're to blame for global warming, ya know.
* $39 billion over seven years to the provinces, with Quebec to take one-third of this year's total despite having just over 20% of Canada's population.
* $300 million for aboriginal housing - I guess throwing money at people and expanding government is this government's answer to social problems?
* A quarter of a billion dollars ($250 million) on government babysitting programs.
* Refunding the completely unrepresentative Status of Women agency.
All told, this is now the biggest spending government in Canadian history.
Despite a not-altogether-shabby amount of debt repayment ($9.2 billion this year), it's pretty disappointing for those who expected sound public policy, not to mention basic fairness, from this government. And we're still waiting for that 1% extra cut in GST, too.
- I almost forgot: thanks again to everybody who stops by here. I hit 25,000 hits over the weekend and I have my small but loyal readership to thank for that. Cheers.
posted by Road Hammer @ 7:27 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Are we full-circle yet? Has the Conservative Party of Canada returned to its Progressive Conservative position on the political spectrum, circa 1988?
A comment I made: "If Watergate, Iran-Contragate, Monicagate and Shawanigate are all scandals, why isn't profligate?"
By the way, the GST promise was always a five year promise. 1% the first year and 1% the fifth year.
Consider the following:
The lowest personal income tax rate, which was raised in last year's budget, remains at that level (15.5%, a half a percent higher than it was under Paul Martin).
The paltry $1200 per kid per year from last year's budget remains a taxable benefit.
Quebecers are being handsomely rewarded for voting Bloc.
And, even if it's bad policy, we still don't see any mention of the next 1% cut to the GST.
Who wrote this budget?
Joe Clark?
You're right, Brian, but given how it's such a drop in the bucket to the treasury, it would have been nice to at least see a signal towards SOME kind of broad-based tax cut (i.e., a commitment to introduce it next year) instead of having the Conservatives focus solely on picking winners and losers while spending like drunken sailors on various Trudeaupian projects, especially given that the NDP as a brand is worthless these days, and the (broke) Liberals have a leader who is a compromise choice at best for both members of his own party and the general public. As for Quebec, with this budget, Harper has unequivocally stated that if you vote for separatists, you'll get both special status AND booty.
Even if the Kool-Aid drinkers and party hacks explain this away as the product of a minority government, given the sad state of the other parties, Harper could, and should have, demonstrated much bolder leadership. As it stands, blue Tories are once again being taken for granted.
Spoiling one's ballot still counts as a vote.
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