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.

Understatement Of The Year

A couple weeks ago this blog posted about Phil and land claims. Last election, Phil had said that land claims was his "number one issue". More recently, Phil was quoted as saying,

"[Land claims] has been my priority, though some may dispute that."

And the award for understatement of the year goes to… Phil McColeman! Here's at least one reason to dispute Phil's claim: As of today, his campaign website servingbrant.ca makes not one single mention of land claims.

Number one priority? More like number one failure.

Hulk Hogan Coming to Brantford

This has nothing to do with the election or Phil McColeman, but Brant News is reporting that Hulk Hogan is coming to Brantford! Can't wait!!

Phil McColeman: CBC Never Heard of Him

Phil McColeman: Making your voice heard on Parliament Hill. Although his voice has obviously not been heard by CBC National reporter Rosemary Barton. She tweeted earlier today:

[Barton later clarified the typo: she meant "Google" not "goggle"]

Interesting that one of the best political reporters in Canada has never even seen Phil McColeman in Ottawa. What has he been doing for the past 3 years?

Phil Phakes Phamily Tax Cuts

As mentioned before in this blog, Phil brags about helping Canadian families. But the Conservatives will give tax cuts to large corporations right now while waiting FIVE YEARS before giving tax cuts to hard-working families.

This is a non-partisan blog (although obviously we don't like Phil McColeman). However sometimes a politician has a quote so good that we can't not repeat it. From Michael Ignatieff:

"It's like, if you come up to a family and you say, 'I've got good news. First, I'm going to cut taxes for the biggest and most profitable corporations in the country. And then maybe in five years, if you take a ticket and you're patient and you vote for us a couple of times, come back in five years and we'll do something really great for you’"

Phil helping families? Don't buy it for a second.

Phil Finally Decides to Communicate with Constituents

Phil McColeman was elected to office in 2008 and only  three years later has decided to start a Twitter account. Most other politicians have used Twitter for ages as a quick and effective way to communicate with the public.

Phil should have started using Twitter long ago. All competent politicians did. It's only now that it's election time that Phil has decided to use this tool to communicate with Brantfordians.

"Who is this guy and why is he standing behind me?"

Image taken from Phil's website.