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06/17/2004 Archived Entry: "The incredibly depressing, despair-inducing Canadian elections"
You may have noticed that I haven't been writing in here very often. It's partially because I've been really really busy, but also because I'm so freaked out by the Canadian elections (don't forget to vote on June 28!). I knew that I would go off on a diatribe about the new Conservative Party's policies because to me they are just so incredibly scary and I can't believe that anyone in their right mind would vote for them. I'm not calling people who are voting Tory crazy - I'm just saying I just can't believe they really know what the Tories stand for.
Now a few pieces of background info - if you hadn't already noticed I'm a lefty-ish person. I recently joined the NDP Party. So you can take everything I say with a grain of salt if you want, but I'll try not to be totally knee-jerk and freaked out - even though I am.
So, a little about the Conservative Party...
What history do the Tories have? Well none really. The party is brand new - created only late last year. They have no record as the Conservative Party of Canada - they don't even have party policies - the have a very thin election platform (I know 'cause I've read it) Notice Harper saying "I have no plans, or no position on that at this time" when asked by journos about specific issues. It's because he doesn't have anything written in the platform document 'cause it's only a few pages long. But they do have their record as previous members of parliament and the Canadian Alliance (which, I mean, come on, it really is the Canadian Alliance with a few righter-wing Progressive Conservatives - as many have already said - there is a real reason why they got rid of the Progressive part of their name). And frankly Canadians found the Alliance a scary, too-right-wing party, so I don't know why they think that the new Conservative Party has changed all that much. Think about who is backing the new party. One name comes to mind. The much reviled and well-hated ex-PM, you guessed it... Brian Mulroney!!!! Yah. Let's all vote for the new party that has his hands all over it. That's what we want. Sorry... the diatribe part is coming out - I just can't help it sometimes.
Okay so let's take a look at some of their policies...
Yah right! Like they are really going to do that. Remember the corruption scandals that plagued Brian and his cronies? You think that's going to end? Corruption will happen in government and in business every time there is a large amount of money involved. The key is to root it out and make it unacceptable. I haven't seen either the Liberals or the Conservatives (well their old members and their backers) ever end corruption.
Ending waste, as we saw with Mike Harris, is a catchphrase that really means cut departments and ministries across the board. Forcing them to quickly "find savings" which, in the case of the Harris government, often resulted in cutting programs to the point where they were ineffective (can you say Walkerton?). Without actually planning out the impact that cuts will have, "ending waste" can actually mean wasting money on programs that are so savaged they don't work anymore.
And really, all parties say they are against this. The Liberals said it 13 years ago, now the Tories are saying it. Why should we believe either of them?
Um... excuse me. There already *is* an independent ethics commissioner (he's relatively new) that - like Harper is promising - is appointed by parliament and reports to parliament instead of the PMO. So why are the Tories promising something that already exists? Do they think we're stupid and we're not going to notice? Doh!
Um... excuse me again. Bill C-24 enacted in June last year and in force January 1, 2004 already banned corporate and union donations to political parties. Now I'm really thinking they think we're stupid. Double doh!
Here again, Harper seems misguidedly enamoured with US-style politics. You think elections are long-drawn out, boring affairs? Well, imagine that political parties knew ahead of time when elections would be? Well, we'd have the never-ending election cycle that they have in the US. It seems to me as if not much gets done in the last year and a half of any President's term because of the elections. Tough decisions get put off - for years in some cases - not because that makes sense, but because it ensures political survival for the incumbent.
The Tories' rhetoric around child care choice is infuriating to me. They are proposing a $2000 per child tax deduction. They say that this gives choice to parents as opposed to a universal national child care program (like Quebec) that is apparently forcing parents to put their kids into day care. This universal, national child care policy is being promised by the NDP and the Liberals. Child care choice through big tax credits sounds good, but it's not a real choice for many parents. If you make $50,000 a year, that only reduces your taxable income to $48,000 a year. Which means you are actually only saving a small portion of that $2000 in real terms - about $440 given a 22% tax rate on that $2000. It will also disproportionately benefit higher income people because they pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes and therefore will save a higher percentage of the $2000 deduction. For instance if your income is $20,000 you pay 16% tax rate on that $2000, so you'd only be saving $320.
All of this is assuming that the average Canadian can truly afford good-quality childcare and that this is a real choice for them. If you are a single mom who would have to pay $6000 per year for child care (a good deal - apparently it costs about $8,500/year for good quality child care) and you only make $25,000 a year and you have two kids, then it's not really a viable choice for you to put your kids in good-quality child care. Now, if there was a national child care program that cost $7 a day like in Quebec, then it would be more than viable. So really, it is entirely misleading to say that a tax deduction is a "choice" and universal, national child care is not. For lower-income Canadians there is no choice.
The tax system already favours 2-parent single-income families (ie one parent staying at home). This child care tax deduction would add to the advantage that these families already have. For more information about this you can read my Dad's paper "Tax Fairness for One-Earner and Two-Earner Families: An Examination of the Issues"
"Aha!", you say? Yes, I admit it. My dad is an economist that specializes in child care economics. So what?
The Tories are crowing about their promise to put 3¢ of the gas tax towards infrastructure programs. Of course, instead of giving the money to the cities directly to help with their overwhelming infrastructure needs and lack of taxation options, they'd actually give the money to provinces, who would be able to distribute it however they wanted. They've said they "will negotiate a transfer"... "through a national infrastructure agreement". They don't exactly say who they are negotiating with, but if it's the provinces, we all know how fraught with chaos federal-provincial negotiations are. So now the gas tax money for the is going to be contingent upon making agreements with provinces. Yah. That's great.
On top of that they are going to eliminate a whack of infrastructure funding that would benefit cities. And really, it's a zero sum game of cutting one to give to the other. And overall for cities, it would be less than zero, because some of that money will be going to other (rural) communities instead of directly to cities.
I'm also not sure why they'd be so proud of the 3¢ they are devoting to this, when the Liberals are promising 5¢ (ramping up to 5¢ by 2005) and the NDP is promising to share half of the gas tax immediately with municipalities.
Well that's it for today. If I have time tomorrow, I'll write about how the Tories are going to shred human rights, stack the Supreme Court, turn us into a defacto 51st state, and have us spiralling into huge deficits, if given a chance...
So stay tuned