Canada Election 2011: No country for old men

When CBC interviewed a woman on the street in Calgary last week, she expressed disappointment that social programs were not on the election agenda. She talked about help for the poor, seniors, and those disadvantaged.

Her observation is true.

Stephen Harper is preaching to middle class interest in a few tax savings and the vision of Canada as a post-colonial power with stealth jet fighters.

The Liberal Red Book has some social program improvements. The Liberals are afraid to promote them when the Conservatives have turned the campaign into a version of No Country for Old Men.

The only political party with a consistent history of support for social programs is the NDP.

The Liberals and the Conservatives would like to squeeze the NDP and Jack Layton into political annihilation.

Jack Layton and the NDP are an important part of keeping Canada the country it has been for the past forty years.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s vision of Canada is a smaller government where Canadians pay lower taxes and people are more self-reliant. In the US they call that Republican or at the worst Libertarian.

That political philosophy appeals to those who are well-off. Why should our tax dollars go to help the unemployed, the poor, the sick, the disabled. Let them look after themselves. We got here by hard work and they should learn to work hard too,

In the past five years has Canada reduced poverty? Has healthcare improved? Are there more people working than 5 years ago? Are there any new social programs that help the 4 million people living with disabilities?

Macleans Magazine recently reported that 7 million Canadians suffer from mental illness each year. “In Ontario one in three adults get access (to mental health care). If you’re a child, it’s one in six. We wouldn’t accept that for cancer.”

The facts are simple – if we need more healthcare for mental illness, more programs to get people out of poverty the government needs tax dollars.

The government won’t have tax dollars if they cut corporate taxes. The $6 billion Stephen Harper wants to cut corporate taxes won’t add jobs for the unemployed, hospital beds or anything to the social fabric of Canada.

According to a new study, most of that money goes into the bank account of corporations. “According to the study, by economist Jim Stanford, the Conservatives’ proposed 3-point reduction in corporate tax rates would cost the public purse $6 billion per year, yet only stimulate about $600 million of new business investment annually.” Corporate tax cuts don’t stimulate investment

Corporate tax cuts will cost every Canadian $500 a year.

We see the same effect in the United States where the richest corporations and individuals benefited from the trillions spent on recovery since 2008. Unemployment in the US remains at record highs. State, municipal and federal programs are being slashed to the bone while corporations sit on their cash.

Another study criticized the current trend to boutique tax credits for school books, children’s athletics, and bus tokens as a waste of social dollars.  Globe and Mail Shutting down Stephen Harper’s tax boutique

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network