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.]

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Flaherty’s fiscal recklessness is hurting Canada’s economy

Wednesday in these pages, federal finance minister Jim Flaherty took the opportunity to offer some fatherly advice to provincial and territorial premiers gathering in Halifax for the Council of the Federation, dispensing his thoughts on the virtues of balance budgets and fiscal responsibility (“Our long term goal: Balance Canada’s budgets,” July 25.

While the Harper government seems happy to offer advice through the media, it failed to send a single representative to meet with the premiers in Halifax. It seems the Harper Conservatives believe unilateral edicts handed down from Ottawa are now the most constructive approach to Canadian federalism.

But before anyone considers taking Mr. Flaherty’s advice, let’s take a closer look at his government’s record.

After inheriting the largest budget surplus in federal government history when he first took office, the Conservative finance minister quickly squandered it on a series of short-sighted and unaffordable corporate tax cuts. Now, after having broken the bank, he’s asking the provinces, and Canadian families, to pick up the tab for his corporate giveaways.

Despite years of promising that Conservatives would never balance the budget by cutting health care transfers or public pensions, Mr. Flaherty and the Prime Minister decided to do exactly that — cutting services and downloading costs to provinces, territories, municipalities and First Nations at a rate that would make even Paul Martin blush.

Instead of coming to the table in good faith and negotiating a new health accord with the provinces, Conservatives unilaterally announced they were going to cut health care transfer payments and short-change the provinces and territories by $31-billion. These governments will be forced to cut services and ultimately the health and well-being of Canadians will suffer.

On pensions, the Conservatives are pushing ahead with plans to cut Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement by raising the retirement age to 67. No longer able to rely on the strong public pensions that Canadians counted on for generations, many seniors will fall into poverty before they’re able to retire. And despite never consulting them on these changes, Conservatives are downloading the costs for these social assistance benefits onto the provinces and territories.

Recent changes to Employment Insurance (EI) will have the same effect. Even though fewer Canadians are able to collect EI today than ever before, the federal government is moving to restrict access even further, making it harder for unemployed Canadians to access this important element of our social safety net. Many Canadians stripped of their EI benefits will be pushed onto provincial and territorial social assistance programs. Once again, it is the provinces and territories who will be stuck with the bill.

But his recent budget cuts weren’t Mr. Flaherty’s first foray into fiscal recklessness.

In 2008, despite warning signs, Conservatives were caught unprepared by the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Indeed, they only acted when their hold on power was threatened.

Mr. Flaherty is now being forced to acknowledge that economic instability around the world affects Canada. He seems to finally realize that in the 21st-century, world economies are interconnected – and he seems ready at last to accept the possibility that Canada could be facing a second recession.

But sadly, Mr. Flaherty still appears unwilling to consult with either the premiers or the public about his plans to address these risks. He prefers to lecture others rather than take responsibility for his own government’s mistakes.

Original Article
Source: national post
Author: Robert Chisholm

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