Thursday, May 11, 2017

We've Heard It All Before



With Conservative leadership hopeful Maxime Bernier recently resurrecting the widely discredited and tired trope of a rising tide lifting all boats, Star reader Salmon Lee of Mississauga offers all of us a timely dose of reality:
Tax cuts only help the rich

Re Maxime Bernier’s vision for Canada, May 8

Yet another politician selling the myth that the economy will grow with tax cuts. If Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier’s economics are sound, we should have been experiencing strong economic growth over the past few years. With corporate tax revenues having been reduced by more than $20 billion annually, thanks to the generous tax cuts from the Harper and McGuinty governments, we should be seeing 3-per-cent growth and millions of well-paying jobs. Instead, we see bigger paycheques for CEOs, stagnant wages and more lower-paying precarious jobs. And loads of uninvested cash in corporate coffers. Canadian politicians should learn from the social democratic Scandinavian countries on how to create a society that gives people a secure future and an economy that can support it.

6 comments:

  1. It's the Big Lie, Lorne. People still believe it because politicians like Bernier keep repeating it.

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    1. And in the U.S. it will undoubtedly get renewed traction, since their Liar-in Chief is spouting the same nonsense with his tax-cut proposals, Owen.

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  2. The surest way to stop a libertarian rampage is electoral reform, Lorne, and Trudeau chose to trash his solemn promise to enact that reform. Electoral reform is not so much about how we pick MPs, it's about how the will of the public is expressed in our legislatures after the votes are counted.

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    1. As I think we have seen, Mound, the will of the people is not a concern for Trudeau, except in his rhetorical flourishes.

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  3. .. great critique by Salmon Lee ..
    Bernier another glib political animal & wannabe economist who grew wealthy in the Harper hive and had access to all kinds of insider information. I see slim pickings among the motley candidates club, aside from Michael Chong who needs to start his own party. Hell, it worked for Stephen Harper - with rancid help from sellout Peter MacKay. I see little difference by the way between MacKay & Bernier, or Scheer for that matter.. These folks have all become vested as privileged partners of Big Business.. Big Energy and trying to view them as Public Servants is ludicrous

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    1. The above clearly operate on the belief that the Canadian public is largely ignorant, Anon. On that, the jury is still out. It is telling though, isn't it, that the only person of integrity in the race, Michael Chong, has no traction? The current incarnation of the party clearly has an aversion to virtue and principle.

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