Beware: 1-2-3 Attack of the Cons

The pattern is now recognizable to a point of being a joke.

Unfortunately, Canadians continue to fall for it.

Attack Point 1:  The Federal Finance Minister gleefully announces that the Conservatives – the stewards of the economy, the only suitable managers of Canada’s finances, the voice of fiscal reason – will be steering the Canadian budget towards a balanced budget within the year.  It’s likely that we’ll even see a surplus.

Let’s ignore the facts that the deficit was created by Flaherty and his crones, that the sources of funds have been attacked ruthlessly over the last 10 years and spending has skyrocketed on much-loathed items like an unnecessarily bloated defense industry in Canada.

Let’s ignore that all kinds of ‘pockets’ of cash have been stashed by the Finance Minister (past and present) to create the mirage of deficit and then surplus.  Funds have been ‘recalled’ and programs have been cancelled so that the Finance Minister can boast about their prudent fiscal management when all they’re engaging in is a creative shell game.

Attack Point 2:  A third-party, conservative ‘think tank’ (an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one) releases a discussion document that whips the non-thinking Canadian into a blind rage of libertarian frothing demand for justice.

I don’t know when the Fraser Institute took a turn towards tabloid research, but they’ve proven again that their organization is nothing but a puppet to be controlled by conservative managers and lobbyists across the country.

The quality of their research reports are just a touch more professional than that of a Grade 3 research project into Ancient Greece, being superficial at best.

The recent report from the Fraser Institute that claims we pay more tax compared to any other expense today is specious at best, but more embarrassing for all than any other report they’ve issued.

When you actually look at the basic documentation concerning this report, it’s easy to see that the biggest jump has been under the watch of the Conservatives who have tirelessly slashed taxes to appeal to their libertarian friends:

A KEY point about all of this is related to the following quote:

Canada’s booming oil and gas industry over the past 50 years is also a factor. “Included in those government revenues are royalties on oil and gas, which were not nearly as high then,” said Dungan. He added that in addition to taking inflation into consideration, analysts must also consider the relative price of oil and gas as well as the sheer amount that Canada exports today. “The Fraser Institute counts those as taxes.”

Really?  How can any organization worth its salt come out with such inflammatory comments and not account at all for the rapid rise in oil revenues from all governments over the last 50 years?

They also shouldn’t be comparing aggregate tax rates (and oil revenues) to personal income.  In order to compare ‘apples-to-apples’, they need to compare an aggregate to another aggregate, like the national GDP.

Finally, they completely fail to acknowledge that a growing part of our economy has become a hodge-podge of part-time jobs, where people on the lower levels suffer more from punitive non-progressive ‘taxes’.  Like oil revenues.

How stupid do they really think they are?

Well …

Attack Point 3:  An all-out media blitz that will drown Canadians in superficial commentary about how ‘over-taxed’ we all are.

OK.

What goes first?  Roads for trucking companies?

Health care?  Education?  Hospitals?  Retirement benefits?

Should we have our parents eat out of cans and get their clothing from Goodwill?

OR … maybe we should jump on this opportunity to look at how PROPER income taxes are increasingly going towards the following:

• Defense
• Pharmaceuticals
• Oil subsidies

Hopefully, Canadians come to appreciate that we’re being duped and that the whole barrage of media related to how ‘over-taxed’ we are is a GREAT BIG LIE.