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.
Federal politics is beginning to look a bit like the Looney Tunes. Stephen Harper is the crafty Road Runner. Stphane Dion is the hapless Coyote who, like the cartoon character, is caught between a rock and a hard place. There is no position Dion hasnÕt turned from to avoid an election. Canadians are therefore left wondering whatÕs next for Harper. By working with the opposition, the Conservatives passed most of their original election promises. The Federal Accountability Act was enacted; the GST was reduced from 7 per cent to 5 per cent; a proposed state-run daycare scheme was replaced with a universal child care allowance; and medical wait-times guarantees were established. Some legislation to get tough on criminals was passed while other crime bills were repeatedly stymied by the Liberal-dominated Senate. The federal governmentÕs second set of priorities were unveiled last October. A throne speech made Senate elections a priority and signaled Ottawa would lower taxes on families and businesses. With help from the opposition the throne speech passed, as did the subsequent economic update and budget. Together, they dramatically reduced business taxes, shaved the bottom personal income tax rate by half a point, and created new personal tax-free savings accounts. All along the party of Wile E. Coyote howled in protest but supported the government by abstaining from key votes. Beep-beep! The government is again looking for fresh ideas. Barring a fall election, Harper should continue advancing legislation favoured by taxpayers. Start by lowering tax on fuel to give Canadians a break. Such a move would help family budgets and force taxpayers to consider the benefits of the Liberal plan to make energy more expensive with a carbon tax. Another smart proposal is to reduce and harmonize employment insurance tax rates paid by businesses and workers. This would eliminate the programÕs massive annual surpluses and lower the cost of hiring and retaining workers. Senate reform might put some people to sleep, but many voters do not appreciate being governed by unaccountable and non-elected lawmakers. Let the Grits defend the status quo if they choose. Ditto for CanadaÕs public service, which has seen its costs balloon by an astounding 50 per cent since 1999. Ottawa should pass a law to ensure the public sector does not expand faster than the population. Such a reform was recently enacted in Saskatchewan. Why not in the nationÕs capital? And is a government monopoly still necessary to distribute paper around the country? The postal service should be opened to competition. As well, a number of Crown corporations Ð such as Purolator Courier, CMHC and VIA Rail Ð should be sold with proceeds applied against CanadaÕs $457-billion debt. Debt retirement remains popular among Canadians and the goal should be its elimination. We now know taxes can be lowered. The 2008 budget proposed a modest spending increase of 3.4 per cent. Yet, during the first two months of the fiscal year Ottawa increased spending by a whopping 7 per cent. If Ottawa has that much dough to spend it can return some to taxpayers by reducing income taxes. Canadians pay more personal income tax than the French and Italians, despite being neighbours to lower-taxed United States. Income taxes in Canada are complex, relatively high and create significant economic distortions. The Conservatives should press the tax reform agenda by swapping OttawaÕs four federal brackets of 15 per cent, 22 per cent, 26 per cent and 29 per cent with two rates of 15 per cent and 25 per cent. When Harper seizes the legislative initiative, he governs well. The Liberal plan to raise energy prices with high taxes is unlikely to dislodge the Conservatives from government. In the meantime, taxpayers hope Harper is ready with taxpayer-friendly legislation that test DionÕs readiness to pull the pin.
