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http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com...on-for-clarity/
Some Fibs policies
The Family Pack
No longer just a term used to denote products in the bulk aisle at the grocery store, the Family Pack refers to the Liberal “5-point plan” of policies that are family-friendly: Money for post-secondary school, daycare, family care, pensions and “green renovation” tax credits. (That last one rather obviously would benefit a single homeowner, too, but one assumes they wanted five things in the Family Pack.) The first four elements were already rolled out earlier in the campaign.
Deficit Reduction
The Liberals have not given a deadline for when the budget would be balanced, settling instead for a commitment to reduce the deficit to 1% of GDP within two years, “down from 3.6% in 2009-10.” That’s a bit of sleight-of-hand, though, since the government’s Budget 2011 already forecast a deficit of 1.7% of GDP this year and 1.1% of GDP next year. So the Liberals would exceed that by 0.1%. Aggressive!
Spending Cuts
The platform vows “to review all federal program spending,” a promise that is popular among parties of all stripes and is code for “cuts that we don’t really want to talk about yet.” Things the Liberals do want to talk about include the cancellation of the Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance for oil sands investment ($490-million) and the cancellation of a P3 Instrastructure Fund ($551-million). The platform also repeatedly mentions cancelling the “$30-billion deal for F-35 stealth fighter jets,” although no money will be saved in the short term and a new bidding process might end up selecting the same F-35s.
Youth Unemployment
They are against it. The platform includes an “EI holiday” for small- and medium-sized business for new hires aged 18 to 25. It predicts a cost of between $130-million and $160-million.
High-speed Internet for all!
The Liberals want “Canada to achieve basic high-speed Internet access for all Canadian households within three years,” which means funding contracts to install capacity in rural and remote areas. No longer with these areas be denied the ability to watch kitten videos without annoying blips and pauses.
A National Food Policy
The Liberals are pro-food, which seems like a vote winner. But more than that, this policy is a “comprehesive set of measures designed to fulfill the simple yet powerful goal of putting more healthy Canadian food on Canadian plates.” Nanny Chef-ism, in other words. Among the measures are plans to create an educational program on healthy eating, new regulatory standards on trans fats and salt and an $80-million dollar Buy Local Fund, which includes a development program for farmers’ markets.
Respecting Democracy
The platform says an Ignatieff government would put procedural limits on the Prime Minister’s power to prorogue Parliament, though it doesn’t indicate what the limits would be or how they would be implemented. It proposes allowing Candians to pose questions to ministers in a weekly “People’s Question Period,” suggests transitioning toward online voting and talks of increasing the power of Standing Committees. All reasonable ideas, but not the major reform package that many expected, considering the Conservative government was brought down on ethical, respect-for-democracy issues.
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Curious to see what the Cons, New Dummycrats and the Block comes up with
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