The most ridiculous statement from the boy conservative, MP Pierre Poilievre this week was the promise that he made about new legislation. He said that, if he was prime minister, he would introduce legislation to offset every dollar of new spending with a cut to old legislation. What he was, in effect promising, was guaranteed recession. He was allowing nothing for growth in the economy.
Poilievre compared his approach to that of many families. He said that when they spend more on one thing, they had to spend less somewhere else. That makes sense in family budgeting but makes less sense for governments. Governments have to spend money on infrastructure that can last many years into the future.
When asked about the Poilievre plan, former parliamentary budget officer, Kevin Page politely said that “it’s difficult to compare government spending to what Canadians do every month.”
Page went on to point out the differences on plans for the public good. A good example would be a program such as the day care program that is currently being rolled out across the country. While billions are currently being spend, the returns in the economy will make the early expense look like a small investment.
And as Page points out, government can borrow money at much lower rates.
But Page also notes that it is good to hear a conservative talk about fiscal responsibility. He must have been thinking of the foolish tax cuts and growing debt during the years of the Harper government. The more recent and larger deficits have been spent on COVID-19.
Where Poilievre is completely off base is to blame the Trudeau government for the current inflation in Canada. The fast-growing world-wide inflation is serious but Poilievre is hardly been cloistered somewhere where he is not aware of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine in which Canada is committed to help arm the Ukrainians and assist their refugees.
Pierre Poilievre studied international relations at the University of Calgary. He should have done a minor in economics. It would certainly have helped.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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