Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, April 01, 2012

The Harper government missed the chance to make meaningful cuts

Seriously: Out of a $276-billion budget, the Conservatives found only $5 billion in cuts? And only over three years?

That’s like someone who weighs 276 pounds saying they’re going to lose five pounds. Over three years.

Except even that’s not true. Because three years from now, the government’s own budget document says it’s going to be spending

$297 billion.

That’s not cutting. That’s expanding. That’s not leaner. That’s 7.4% fatter.

The Conservatives are spending 7.4% more over the next three years. But even that’s not the worst of it. They’re going to be wringing 17.6% more taxes out of Canadians in the next three years.

Will you be getting a 17.6% raise over the next three years? Maybe. Will your company grow its revenues 17.6%? Could be. That would be called an economic boom.

It’s possible. If America doesn’t hit a double-dip recession. If Europe doesn’t collapse in a domino effect from the bankruptcy of Greece.

Sure, it’s possible.

It’s true that some of the federal budget is uncuttable spending. Like the interest payments on our debt. That’s $31 billion this year. So what about the other $245 billion?

Blaming uncuttable spending is like saying you can’t lose weight because so much of your weight is bones. No — debt servicing is barely 10% of government spending.

This is a timid budget when the government did not need to be timid. Finally, after five years, Stephen Harper has a majority in Parliament, and a divided, weak opposition. If there ever were going to be cuts, it would be now, early in his mandate — not on the eve of an election three or four years from now.

There were some trifling cuts, to be sure — $5 billion, over three years.

But what do these cuts say about the priorities of this government?

The budget announced fully $1.1 billion in cuts to National Defence. Which just happens to be precisely the annual corporate bailout given to the CBC — an obsolete

holdover from a bygone era, before 500-channel TV, satellite radio, YouTube, iTunes and Netflix.

If Brian Mulroney could privatize Air Canada and Paul Martin could sell off the last government shares of Petro-Canada, why is Stephen Harper still insisting that taxpayers own a TV station?

That question stands alone; but when juxtaposed next to the fact that our Canadian Forces will be gutted by precisely the amount of the CBC’s annual bailout, it moves from a lost opportunity to a grave disappointment.

Oh, the CBC’s corporate bailout will be trimmed a sniff — they’ll have to make do with $27.8 million less this year. Which is a trick, of course; just last year the CBC got a special “top-up” of $60 million.

You can cut my personal budget by $27.8 million, too, if you like, if you give me a

$60 million top-up right before. What a joke.

Yes, of course there is good news in the budget, too.

For example, there are new fixed deadlines by which the government’s regulatory reviews of major economic projects must be completed. The circus-style procedure of bureaucrat Sheila Leggett’s review of the Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal — where literally thousands of “witnesses,” including young school children, foreign citizens and even characters like “Jack Sparrow” and “Cave Man” are allowed to testify for months on end — is being stopped.

And the illegal practices of environmental “charities” — namely their highly partisan political campaigning, often on behalf of foreign meddlers — will be curtailed. Anti-Canada lobbying won’t be banned. It just won’t get a Canadian charitable tax receipt anymore.

Those are important changes. But they’re not really budgetary changes. A budget is about taxing and spending. And in that department, this Conservative budget — and the double-digit tax increase over the next three years — is hardly something to celebrate.

Original Article
Source: toronto sun
Author: Ezra Levant

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