Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s main man Finance Minister Bill Morneau is still playing the role of Johnny Appleseed. He seems to have the sole role of a single program like the character in American folk lore who introduced apple horticulture to a large swath of North America.
There is nothing wrong with sticking to what you know but I always thought Appleseed could have added the occasional orchard of peach or cherry trees to his planting. Similarly, Morneau could have added other segments of society to helping families with children. How about helping our seniors to get by?
Not that there is anything wrong with child support programs. It is just that people with children are not the only members of Canadian society who feel the pinch of inflation. And we were pleased to hear from Mr. Morneau that when you give money to people who might need the money, they will spend it. That helps the economy grow. If you keep giving money to millionaires like Mr. Morneau, they will keep looking for vacation villa’s to purchase in Provence. That does nothing for the Canadian economy.
It was good to hear from Mr. Morneau that the Canadian economy was doing better than expected. Would he have told us, were it not?
And I was also pleased that he tried to ignore the reporters’ rudely shouted questions about balancing books. I suspect that none of those rude people were economists and had little knowledge of what they meant by such a meaningless question. Frankly, Canadians as a whole probably would never give a damn as to whether the books were balanced or not. It is just a silly idea promoted by block-headed conservatives that a country should be run as though it is a household—and not spend more than its income.
But any smart business person can tell you that you have to invest to build. Those damn risk-adverse Tories are a drag on our society. This country was built by the people who accepted challenges, made the investments, showed the good faith and the willingness to pitch in. We should take some time to appreciate what some of those old fogies of the past did for us. They built a hell of a country—and we should keep it going and growing.
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Copyright 2017 © Peter Lowry
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