If you listen to PM Harper, Canada is not close to being in the dire economic situation the US currently finds itself. He says Canada is in a much different realm that is far brighter than our neighbours to the south. I say don’t be fooled by what Harper is feeding us. He is a master of deception and our media has been sucked into it time after time. Months ago I wrote the piece below entitled “Corporate Tax Cuts were to Save Canadian Jobs.” That sales job was brilliantly fed to our media,warning that if we didn’t approve these tax cuts, we would jeopardize Canadian jobs. Canadians bought into it and hence we now have a Conservative majority. It’s ironic that PM Harper speaks so poorly of the US situation and yet he aspires to emulate the very policies that put them in their ominous state of affairs. Outside of the economy, mandatory minimum sentencing, new mega jails and war jets are Harper’s focus. Each one of these policies will cost Canadians billions. Simultaneously, Harper plans to continue with corporate tax cuts. In the U.S., these irresponsible expenditures and policies have led to over 50 million Americans not having access to healthcare, over 8 million Americans homes going into foreclosure and public sector services being slashed right across the board. Is this what Harper wants for Canada? The reality is that Canada has already unacceptably high poverty rates, dozens of municipalities that have not had clean drinking water for decades, tuitions that keep students slaves to lender years after graduation and a healthcare system on life support. Yet PM Harper believes corporate tax cuts, jails and war jets are a more important priority.
In brief, the Occupy Toronto movement is about inequalities and government priorities. I hope the article below helps to educate and encourage people to join the movement or at least be able to understand the cause. I spoke harshly about PM Harper and the Conservatives, but Ontario’s Liberal Premier Dalton Mcguinty is also planning further corporate tax cuts. The Conservatives and Liberals seem to follow the same economic course. Of course, they will dispute this, but the reality is things were not that different in the Chrétien/Martin days of the 90’s.
Corporate Tax Cuts were to Save Canadian Jobs
Since taking office PM Harper has reduced the GST by 2% resulting in a $13bilion loss of annual revenue and reduced corporate taxes resulting in a further $60bilion in lost federal revenue. Much of these cuts will be paid for by borrowed money adding to our already ballooning debt. How will Harper balance the budget by 2015 as promised in the last election? Our finance minister Flaherty says “by restraining spending.” In other words, public service cuts.
In the period PM Harper was selling Canadians on the idea that lowering corporate taxes will result in more Canadian jobs, he failed to share the second part of the story; less federal revenue due to these tax cuts will result in federal service cuts as well as reduced provincial or municipal transfers that normally would pay for services they deliver, otherwise known as downloading. The “more Canadian jobs” promise was total speculation (lies) as there is no proof at all that lowering corporate taxes increases jobs. If that were the case, Bicks pickles would not have shut down their profitable Canadian operations and head south or Sears Canada would have Canadian customer service representatives rather than Asian. If a corporation relies on Canadians in any way to make a profit, they are stakeholders in Canada and as such should live up the responsibilities and obligations that facilitate their profits – Canadian society. If banks or oil companies had higher taxes would they stop selling us gas or mortgages? Absolutely not! If you are a multinational retailer with stores across our country and your corporate taxes were higher, would you stop selling to Canadians? Of course not. Then why are so many Canadians living pay cheque to pay cheque and losing public services while the most profitable corporations receive tax cuts? Who is PM Harper looking out for, individual Canadians or special interest groups?
The notion that government should be run like a business has been drilled into our brains ever since the “conservative” movement has rooted itself in government and media over the last decade. If government is run like business then I suppose we should be hiring Philippine or Indian nationals as our garbage collectors – hey, we’ll save on labour. Perhaps we should ignore our own laws and mine and sell asbestos to third world countries – oh yeah, we’re already doing that. Perhaps we should lobby ourselves to reduce personal taxes on low and middle income Canadians or improve public services – wait a minute, why isn’t Harper doing this? Hmm, maybe running government like a business is the way to go only when it suits the interest of whoever Harper is looking out for, which clearly is not the majority of Canadians. Fact: According to Toronto research agency Investor Economics, the richest 3.8 per cent of Canadian households controlled 66.6 per cent of all financial wealth (not counting real estate) by 2009, up from 60.6 per cent in 2005 just before the Conservatives came to power. The agency predicts the portion of financial wealth controlled by this richest group of Canadians is headed for 70 per cent by 2018. This polarization of wealth and power is extremely dangerous and in the past has sparked civil unrest, even revolution. I’m not saying Canada is heading for a revolution; however, staying on Harper’s course of corporate tax and service cuts will create major holes that we and future generations will have to deal with.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was elected on the promise of reducing taxes while maintaining services. Ford does not have the luxury to borrow to cover his shortfalls as PM Harper does. Just one year after Mayor Ford was elected, Torontonians are facing property tax hikes in the order of 2½ to 3½% as well as service cuts and reduced amenities. Ford’s first big move when coming into office was to rid the city of $20 an hour garbage collectors by replacing them with a new labour force making $16 an hour, thus making the poor poorer. He then eliminated the vehicle registration tax, which further reduced city income. The plan now is to tell Torontonians that drastic service cuts are needed in order to balance the budget. Hmm, where did I hear that before? Oh yeah, our Finance Minister Flaherty.
Right on, Nick!
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