And we’re off – again. To pretty much nobody’s surprise, Canadians are now being subjected to the longest election campaign in this country’s history.
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off the campaign headed for an Oct. 19 grand finale it caught nobody by surprise, as the announcement seemed to be one of the worst-kept secrets in recent times.
Mind you, unofficially, a 2015 election campaign was actually launched some time ago; first with anti-Justin Trudeau TV ads, then by a mad spate of cheques cut by the Conservatives for initiatives vast and sundry across this great nation.
Despite doom and gloom predictions of an economy hamstrung by a drop in oil prices, suddenly there are dollars aplenty to fund almost anything. Once again, the party in power is taking advantage of our hard-earned tax dollars to attempt to gain advantage and favour with voters with its largesse.
Money is suddenly available for infrastructure work such as highway construction all over the place, for families via dollars for kids, and now billions for homeowners through a home renovation tax credit.
If times are tough, is now really the time to set out on a $1.5 billion (annually) home renovation incentive? If billions are to be spent, surely there are better ways to spend it than coaxing people to put a new deck on their house or upgrade their flooring?
Even if the home reno tax credit was announced to attract votes in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver; with average homes often being worth up to $1 million, is a few thousand in renovations really of any benefit? Even here in the Bow Valley, there are many homes in that price range – do those owners really rate a reno credit?
On the other hand, to give credit where due, the Conservatives have also announced a $60 million per year apprenticeship job creation tax credit to support businesses in helping tradespeople upgrade skills. Compared to the home reno scheme, assisting young people in becoming skilled trades professionals is something that could actually prove to be beneficial.
Hopefully, all the Conservative money spending doesn’t mean this election will degrade into nothing more than a discussion of which government will spend the most if elected. If, as many continue to predict, we have dark times facing us, now is the time for fiscal responsibility, not reckless spending as a means of attracting votes.
As short as the campaign has been, we find a disturbing aspect is the possibility that Conservative leader Stephen Harper may not take part in a nationally televised TV debate proposed by a consortium of broadcasters – with his move soon followed by NDP leader Tomas Mulcair.
The nationally televised TV debate likely provides the most accessible platform for the majority of Canadians who have any interest in politics to help them make a decision as to which leader best mirrors their own priorities and values.
In launching the current election campaign, Harper alluded to two key issues – the economy and security. We agree that the economy is important (as in the above, let’s side on fiscal responsibility), but security? Of what, we wonder? Outlook staff get around a fair bit and have found that nobody is showing any concern with security (we assume the Conservatives mean terrorism?).
Security aside, there are so many issues of so much importance that we hope this election campaign focuses on the economy, the environment, job creation, proper treatment of scientific information, our seniors, infrastructure, green initiatives, lesser dependence on non-renewable resources …
