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Liberals reveal Conservative style tax cuts to try and give voters "Gomery amnesia"
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| Jayx1 |
Isnt this the same party that during the last election just last year said that tax cuts would be "irresponsible" despite our huge surplus? Sadly this bribing voters with their own money tactic will probably work.
Personally im still waiting for them to axe the GST as they promised in their first election..... but im still waiting!!
Are voters really this stupid? I hope not!
We need to boot these crooks out NOW
| quote: | OTTAWA (CP) - A Liberal government on day-to-day life support rolled out six years worth of largesse Monday, hoping $29 billion in promised tax cuts will help Canadian voters forget the sponsorship scandal.
Staring into the abyss of a threatened holiday season election, Prime Minister Paul Martin turned his government's fall economic statement into a full-blown mini-budget and Liberal campaign parachute. It is a blindingly obvious document.
Starting with what Finance Minister Ralph Goodale counts as an underlying $13.4-billion surplus in 2005-06, the Liberals say they'll shower voters with retroactive tax breaks totalling $5.3 billion this fiscal year alone.
A two-income family of four earning $60,000 would pay $499 less in taxes this year if the Liberal plan is implemented.
Opposition parties slammed Goodale for what they said is blatant electioneering.
"What caused this deathbed conversion?" Conservative MP Monte Solberg asked Goodale at the Commons finance committee.
"Suddenly on the eve of an election, all of a sudden the minister and the Liberal party gets religion on tax relief for Canadians . . . . It looks a lot like you're just trying to change the channel."
Goodale insisted the fiscal update is "not a budget" and said it was only in the middle of last week that the 227-page document - double its usual length - was padded out from the annual autumn accounting of the nation's finances.
"If it's not a budget, it must be a Liberal election platform," shot back NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis
Nancy Hughes Anthony, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, shrugged off the obvious political manoeuvring, wedged as it is between Justice John Gomery's damning report on the sponsorship scandal and a pending non-confidence motion.
"Tax reduction is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned, however you get there, whenever you get there," she said.
But Bloc Quebecois MP Yvon Loubier accused Goodale of trying to buy his way out of the "worst scandal in Canadian history."
And there's plenty besides tax cuts. A home-heating rebate will send another $1 billion to modest income voters this winter. There's cash for students, universities, aboriginals, the environment and immigrant settlement programs.
There's also help for businesses attempting to broaden their global trade links and for those making capital expenditures.
The federal capital tax will be eliminated Jan. 1, two years ahead of schedule.
After $3 billion goes to the contingency reserve - effectively debt repayment - the working surplus for this year is reduced to a politically palatable $1.6 billion, rising to $3.2 billion in 2006-07.
Goodale's embarrassment of riches left him little choice but to promise a broad reduction in taxes.
"I don't think Mr. Goodale could stand up and announce these kinds of surpluses without saying to Canadians, some of that's coming back into your pocket," said Hughes Anthony.
"For the average Canadian, they look at surpluses as over-taxation."
The opposition parties will present a motion this week in the Commons asking Martin to voluntarily call an election in early January for a mid-February vote.
The Liberals have already stated they won't respect such a majority measure, prompting opposition threats to defeat the government on non-confidence next week. That would cast the country into a Christmas campaign, culminating in a January vote.
The Liberals will now dangle the promise of tax cuts in front of voters, while simultaneously complaining the forced early election call threatens the very delivery of those surplus dollars back to taxpayers.
It has worked before.
Public opinion polls suggest that if an election was held today, Canadians would re-elect a similar looking minority parliament.
Surveys put the Liberals ahead of the Conservatives by three to seven percentage points, but still well short of majority government territory.
The NDP has made modest gains, largely at Liberal expense, and the Bloc Quebecois remains poised to sweep francophone Quebec.
The fiscal update plays heavily on voter nostalgia for the Paul Martin they thought they were getting as prime minister in December 2003.
"Canada's progress since 1994 has given this nation the freedom to plan and the strength to succeed," Goodale said in his speech to the finance committee.
"It has placed Canada in an enviable position, able to translate our past progress into an enduring advantage going forward."
It's a page torn directly from former prime minister Jean Chretien's playbook, when finance minister Martin was playing the role of sound fiscal manager with a social conscience.
In October 2000, Martin presented what the Liberals called an "economic statement" that included $35 billion in new personal and corporate tax cuts and a home-heating rebate program for lower income Canadians.
Leveraging the income tax measures aimed directly at middle-class voters, Chretien called an early election for Nov. 27 - 18 months before his mandate expired - and the Liberals rolled to a third straight majority.
Martin didn't table another full budget until late the following year (and those home-heating rebates were implemented by cabinet without a vote in Parliament.)
Today, the tables are turned and Martin's minority government plans to use the fiscal update as both carrot and stick.
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | OTTAWA (CP) - Highlights of the federal fiscal update:
-Immediate $500 increase to the basic personal amount of income all Canadians can earn without paying federal tax
-Lowest income tax rate drops one percentage point to 15 per cent, retroactive to last Jan. 1.
-The changes mean a two-income family of four earning $60,000 would pay $499 less in taxes for 2005.
-One percentage point reduction to each of the middle tax rates by 2010.
-Increase in the income level at which the top tax rate applies, starting in 2010.
-A Working Income Tax Benefit for low-income earners starting in 2008.
-Elimination of the federal capital tax for business next year - two years ahead of schedule.
-Forecast surplus of $13.4 billion for 2005-06 to be trimmed to $1.6 billion after taking into account tax cuts, energy rebate, new spending and the contingency reserve.
-Forecast surplus of $96.8 billion over six years to be trimmed to $15.5 billion after tax cuts, new spending, contingency reserve and other factors.
-Economy forecast to grow by 2.8 per cent this year, 2.9 per cent next year, and 3.1 per cent in 2007.
-Aim to reduce debt-to- GDP ratio to 20 per cent by 2020. |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| Boot one crook to let an even bigger crook in.....sounds good to me. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by ChemEnhanced
Boot one crook to let an even bigger crook in.....sounds good to me. |
one has stolen from us... the other might steal. Id rather take my chances with a potential criminal than someone who i know actually is one. |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
one has stolen from us... the other might steal. Id rather take my chances with a potential criminal than someone who i know actually is one. |
What are you talking about....every political party has stolen from us. There will be no government that you will ever be happy with...unless you are the government....and even then I think you would be pissed at yourself. |
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| EvilTree |
I've given Harper so many chance to prove himself that he's got half a brain as an alternative to Martin, but he looks smarter than Bush and has about same amount of brain. At least Bush has some really smart guys working for him but I haven't seen any Conservatives that really stand out.
I hate to say this, but I may just have to vote Liberal. Martin hasn't been that bad. Shows more skill than Harper at least. |
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| Moral Hazard |
| Harper has proven himself to be ineffectual. This is not to say he is not a good person, smart man, decent politition, however, we must all admit he is a poor leader. The fact that his numbers now are the same as they were prior to the Gomery Inquiry prove this. The truth is that until the Conservatives have a bi-lingual leader from a Quebec friendly Ontario riding (and no being born in Toronto but running off the Calgary does not count) or a Montreal born and raised anglophone Quebecer Ontarians will not trust the conservatives, the Quebecois will give them few if any seats, and the best they will be able to do is remain a regionally based opposition party. |
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| Wyndham |
hahahahah tax cuts by the liberals????? hmmm i smell electon campaigning. get them out and get harper in, country will be way better off. i think harpers got a more skill than martin, except conservatives just dont market themselves properly and thats why everyone wonders what harpers really about, they were supposed to be working on this for over a year now (one reason they lost the election) but i dont really see much change. Doesn't really help that the main newspaper, star, is such a liberal paper, and they're a pretty new party. anyways I agree they could have a better leader ie belinda stronach!! hahaha jk..peter mckay.
good comment by jax1, they did campaign on no tax cuts, when there still was a surplus, pretty obvious they brought this out now cause its nearing release of the final gormery report and they wanna get some momentum leading into a possible election. already thieves, now they're bribers too..wonder what the rest of the country will think about this |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Originally posted by Wyndham
already thieves, now they're bribers too..wonder what the rest of the country will think about this |
It doesn't matter what the rest of the country thinks....Ontario is where it is Decided....the liberals still have a strong hold on Ontario. Whether you like Liberals or not...until Harper is ousted there is no chance they will win.
And this is different then any other political group? Face it....we are all going to get FUBARed when it comes to government. The reality is....we need to vote....it really doesn't matter who you vote for as long as you do....if you don't vote then you have no business to express any opinion. |
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| Wyndham |
| quote: | Originally posted by ChemEnhanced
It doesn't matter what the rest of the country thinks....Ontario is where it is Decided....the liberals still have a strong hold on Ontario. Whether you like Liberals or not...until Harper is ousted there is no chance they will win.
And this is different then any other political group? Face it....we are all going to get FUBARed when it comes to government. The reality is....we need to vote....it really doesn't matter who you vote for as long as you do....if you don't vote then you have no business to express any opinion. |
its where its decided, but every vote counts in the house, liberals only won by like 4 votes a couple of months ago, could have forced an election right there... so yea ontario's where its decided, but not the only province that matters, and with liberals losing popularity in quebec, thats seats up for grabs, though the bloc are gonna get most. |
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| MarkT |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
Harper has proven himself to be ineffectual. This is not to say he is not a good person, smart man, decent politition, however, we must all admit he is a poor leader. The fact that his numbers now are the same as they were prior to the Gomery Inquiry prove this. The truth is that until the Conservatives have a bi-lingual leader from a Quebec friendly Ontario riding (and no being born in Toronto but running off the Calgary does not count) or a Montreal born and raised anglophone Quebecer Ontarians will not trust the conservatives, the Quebecois will give them few if any seats, and the best they will be able to do is remain a regionally based opposition party. |
I couldn't agree more...
Get ready for another Liberal minority...IMHO, the opposition parties are ing stupid.
They will piss off constituents with a Christmas election campaign that few people want...and are going up against a proposed Liberal budget filled with things that voters want to hear.
Criticize the Liberals all you want, folks...say they're shifting their budget policy, say whatever you want...they know what they're doing and they are doing it well. Arrogant? perhaps. Effective? IMHO, there's no question.
Look at the media releases already out there...Martin and his closest people have been personally vindicated by Gomery's initial report, has booted out several party members who were implicated, is promising tax breaks and increased spending and has promised an election within 30 days of Gomery's 2nd report.
The opposition is going to try to force a Christmas election campaign that will annoy voters and thereby also delay all of those tax cuts and spending initiatives.
Layton looks silly for jumping ship after proping up the Liberals before and Harper is perhaps only slightly better than Day was at leading the Conservatives (i.e. *terribly* ineffective)...the Bloq will likely romp in Quebec, thereby also likely preventing any other party from unseating the Liberals, particularly since Ontario will not go Conservative (not under Harper, anyway).
Stalemate...until either the Liberals and NDP get along and form a majority...or the Conservatives replace Harper. |
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| Jayx1 |
oh no a christmas election! Forcing people to think about something other than presents.
OH THE HORROR!
We are such a spoiled society... |
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