The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The saying ÒTory times are hard timesÓ was used by the Liberals for a long time after the Great Depression, when Tory Prime Minister R.B. BennettÕs policy of Òblasting our way into a good economyÓ Ð increased protectionism and taxation Ð failed to do anything good in a worldwide economic downslide. That was a much different era, with no employment insurance, little welfare, no job protection and huge numbers of unemployed traveling the country looking for work. Can this happen again? The economic news worldwide is continuously depressing, but experts are now saying it should be better next year. LetÕs hope so. The moribund Liberal Party is up to its old tricks, trying to blame the Conservatives for the downturn. They claim the Tories have no solutions to save the economy, are too optimistic about Canada and should be shoveling huge amounts of cash to try and save the jobs of the auto workers and others in the same manner as the United States. In this paper, Liberal Ralph Goodale continues to rant about the Harper government wasting its surplus, which is a bunch of nonsense. The Liberals overtaxed Canadians for years and used the surpluses for programs they hoped would gain them support. What Harper did was give the money back to taxpayers and families as tax credits, and cut the hated GST by two points, which saves everybody money, including those who pay no taxes. There were a number of other good initiatives, including pension sharing and increased credits for seniors, which saved this rapidly expanding group a lot of money. There are further plans that are helpful, including increasing the age for turning RRSPs to RIFs, and new tax-free savings accounts for 2009. Experts are applauding the savings accounts and say they have no negatives. They advise taxpayers with stocks paying dividends to put them in this plan. See a financial advisor to get the straight goods and to set up your plan. Financial writers also say that if you have accounts that have suffered financial losses from the amount you invested, you can declare capital losses and even recoup capital gains you have paid in the past few years. Again, ask your financial adviser for a capital gains report and see if you can recover taxes paid in the past three years. By the way, writers warn that you can only take advantage if you have lost money from what you originally paid for the investments, which I am sure has been the case with a lot of investors in 2008. What about Finance Minister Jim FlahertyÕs economic update of November 26? This caused an uproar among the opposition parties, mainly because it announced that the federal funding political parties receive Ð $1.95 per vote, per year Ð would disappear. The Winnipeg Free Press reported that since Jean Chrtien changed the rules for raising money four years ago, $290 million of tax money has flowed to the parties, and now all opposition parties are seriously dependent on these handouts. Only the Conservatives raise more money from donations than they get per vote. The Free Press claims the existing scheme is offensive, as taxpayers have to pay for parties they would never support. In any event, the Tories have since announced the plan will not go ahead, at least at this time. Nevertheless, the Liberals, NDP and Bloc were enraged Ð not so much over the party handouts, they claim, but because they feel FlahertyÕs update did nothing to help the economy. They have threatened to defeat the government and form a coalition. It would presumably include the Liberal leader as prime minister and be made up of fourth-party NDPers and Liberals with support from the Bloc. ItÕs reminiscent of the ÒKing-Byng ThingÓ in the 1920s, when Gov. Gen. Lord Byng would not give Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, defeated in the House, an election, instead calling on the Tories to form a government that was short lived. Can you imagine Dion or Bob Rae or Michael ÒIggyÓ Ignatieff as prime minister without an election? Harper said that the opposition has the right to defeat the government, but no right to form a government without an election. But the opposition would dearly love to get in power through the back door. Stay tuned! RogerÕs Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
