Partisan Posturing and Trickle-Down Economics

Hours before a senior Liberal (who for years has been a respected Member of Parliament) was to visit the riding, Phil McColeman sent a message to the Brantford Expositor attacking the Liberal plan to eliminate a corporate tax cut. Phil defended the Conservative plan to cut taxes for corporations while making families wait 5 years for a tax cut:

Calling the Liberal rollback a "tax hike," the statement said: "This increase will kill jobs, stall our recovery and set our families back."…

"Why does John McCallum and the Liberal Party want to kill jobs, stall our recovery and set our families back?" it says.

"Brant's economy and job creators need support, not reckless job-killing tax hikes to pay for billions of dollars in ill-considered spending."

Where to begin?

First of all, it is not a "tax increase", rather it is avoiding a Conservative corporate tax cut – a tax cut that is inherently inefficient.

Second of all, Phil seems to think that cutting taxes for corporations will somehow benefit families more than cutting taxes for families and providing social services. This is called "trickle-down economics". The theory is that if you cut taxes for the wealthiest individuals or corporations, the benefits will "trickle down" to the average Joes/Janes. It's been tried before. It doesn't work.

Third of all, it is in fact the Conservatives who have out-of-control spending. They took a budget surplus and turned it into the largest deficit in Canadian history (see also this blog post from last year). Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page has said that the deficit is "structural", which means that it'll still be there when the recession ends. The Conservatives are wasting tax dollars on e.g. $1 billion for the G20 meeting in Toronto, $10 billion for unneeded new prisons, $30 billion for stealth fighter jets (with no competition for the contract), $130 million on advertising (triple the former amount), and spending $27 million on Economic Action Plan signs.

Finally, it is simply over the top to suggest that the Hon. Mr. McCallum wants to "kill jobs" and "set our families back". Ask yourself honestly: Does any politician really want that? Does anybody really want that? Of course not. It's partisan posturing pure and simple.

Phil Blames the Liberals… again

When he comes under fire for poor performance, Phil McColeman's only response is "Blame the Liberals." In the world according to Phil, there is apparently a vast Liberal conspiracy to destroy him (and this non-partisan blog is part of that paranoid worldview).

Opposition MP John McCallum is planning to use Brant as an example of how the Conservatives messed up their stimulus spending of taxpayer dollars. McCallum read some comments by City Councilor Richard Carpenter in this Maclean's article. Aside from the irony of someone named CARPENTER calling out Phil the self-proclaimed renovation nut, Mr. Carpenter has some valid criticisms (which can be found in this blog post).

Phil's response? "The liberal machine trying to win points to show that the government is wasting government money in Brantford."

Mr. Carpenter was above all that. He responded that he wouldn’t get caught up in “the party politics games."

Actually, Phil & friends have been playing the "Blame the Liberals" card for years. See this post and this post for example. How about actually addressing the accusations next time??

Phil's Pointless Promise

Phil McColeman was very happy to announce funding for an extension to Brantford's famous Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre. But then he imposed an impossible construction deadline. Now city councilors are desperately trying to get a funding extension for the project beyond March 2011. If they don't get an extension, Brant is faced with the choice of either paying extra money to get the project finished early, or paying extra money to complete the project after the deadline.

[Phil at the Gretzky Centre for a showy photo-op]

Brantford City Councilor Richard Carpenter said that "the federal government was interested mainly in showy photo-ops and not needed work such as road repair, leading to an overwhelming amount of arena and community centre renovations across the country and thus causing a bottleneck situation with contractors" that ultimately raised the cost of doing these renovations.

In Ottawa, Phil was too busy blabbering on about the gun registry instead of fighting for issues that really affect Brantfordians. However, Liberal Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Critic John McCallum did stand up for Brantford. McCallum said,

Next year, the Conservatives will spend billions on corporate tax cuts, while offering no flexibility to cities and communities who had to wait on the government’s delays.… The federal government is stiffing municipal ratepayers with the bill for Conservative delays instead of helping to finish projects. We need to finish the job and extend the deadline.

But Brant city councilors doubt that Phil and the Conservatives will listen to their request.

[The Gretzky Centre undergoing renovations]