Saturday, February 19, 2011

Layton's Budget Demands Make Sense...

It's no secret I'm not a big fan of NDP leader Jack Layton. Socialist policies tend to be a waste of taxpayer dollars and are never cost efficient. More often than not they punish those that work hard for their money and reward those who blame their troubles or woes on evrybody but themselves.

But Layton's budget demands, or what he calls priorities, seem to make sense and would benefit Canadians from coast to coast. Layton has also thrown the PM a bone by offering to support the budget if some of his demands are met in exchange for not pushing for a stop in the corporate tax cuts. Seems like a win-win for both sides.

"The NDP have asked the Conservatives to take the GST off home heating bills, restore the EcoEnergy Retrofit program and increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors. The party also wants changes to the Canada Pension Plan and a plan to increase access to family doctors."

Taking the gst off home heating bills is a no-brainer. Seniors and low-income earners are the ones most affected by changes in hst in Ontario and BC. Other provinces also include the tax. At a time when Ontario voters have finally had enough of Dalton McGuinty, this could also provide the Conservative's with a boost in electoral fortunes.

Increasing the GIS and expanding or making changes to the CPP also are a good idea, particularly because of our aging population. The only criticism I have is Layton's demand to reinstate the EcoEnergy retrofit program. This program was a government albatross, with rougly 50 cents of every dollar spent going to administration costs.

A side benefit of meeting Layton on some of his priorities is the fact the Tories keep rolling out those corporate tax cuts. As much as Ignatieff and his mainstream media sidekicks scream, those cuts are essential to improving and expanding our economy. The corporate tax rate is not the only factor considered when a company or corporation decides where to make investments or expansions. Energy and transportation costs, emplyment costs such as insurance and benefits all factor in. Having a more attractive tax rate will help.

Harper and Layton getting this done in the budget also throws Ignatieff and Duceppe to the sidelines. Imagine Ignatieff and the Liberals voting against a budget that helps seniors. The fact is those corporate tax cuts won't even be in budget 2011, so Ignatieff will look foolish stick with that as his talking point.

And Duceppe? Well, in my opinion he has probably done more to improve the Conservative's chances of getting that majority government. There is no way the PM will meet his demands and pander to Quebec for a handful of seats in the province. Instead, voters outside of Quebec will applaud the PM ignoring a seperatists blackmail demands, boosting our fortunes across the country.

Well played Mr Harper and Mr. Layton.

7 comments:

  1. I just hope Harper has the sense to meet Layton at least half way.

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  2. The only point I would disagree with is the EcoEnergy Retrofit program. Tighten the rules on % that can be claimed as an administrative expense.The volume of spin-off business for the trades gave this program a multiplier for jobs/taxes. The PM will gladly show that compromise can be made when you stop spending your time looking for faux scandals.
    Agreed, well played.

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  3. Teh beauty of the energy refit programme was that "under the table" deals were not claimable so more tax money was recovered.

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  4. It's encouraging to see that not all CAW members are zombies to all organized labour causes. The doubling of CPP benefits is absolutely a dumb idea. Increasing benefits for rich and poor alike is not a sound idea. I've been fighting against that idea for a while now via my Facebook site - http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=161944373818468 - as well as a few letters to the editor in The Wiindsor Star.

    Please visit my site and feel free to comment. The CLC blocked me and a couple of others from their Facebook site because they said it was just for people who agreed with them (?!).

    Keep up the good work.

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  5. Like everyone else, I don't like the HST one bit. But my question is: suppose they remove it from home utilities, where is the difference in revenue going to come from? A: more deficit
    B:higher taxes
    I'm also a CAW 444 member, I support our union in the workplace, but am not a socialist and detest socialist policies because they hurt the less fortunate by taking away incentive from people to work harder, produce more and have excess to share with the less fortunate.
    Don

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  6. Mr. Layton's CPP proposals are a bad idea. Here's why:

    http://www.oxygentax.com/2011/02/why-cpp-is-not-good-investment.html

    I hate to pimp my own posts, but in this case, it was better than cluttering up your comments section with it.

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  7. I'd love to opt out of CPP. Give me my premiums paid so far - heck maybe I'd settle for half -, keep the "growth" and I'll do my own retirement saving. Give it to the CAW if they like it so much.

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