Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

The widely anticipated tax cuts announced in yesterday’s Economic and Fiscal Update confirm once again the Harper government’s preference for politics over meaningful public policy.

Betting that a $60 billion giveaway will give them a boost in the polls, the Harper government is playing shabby pre-election politics while furthering its agenda to shrink the capacity of government to act in the interests of all Canadians.

Massive tax cuts for the corporate sector – cuts that will take Canada’s rate to the bottom of industrialized countries by 2012 – are no substitute for investments in the nation’s social and physical infrastucture.

While the Harper government seeks to portray its single-minded focus on tax cuts and debt reduction as evidence of sound financial management, in fact the government’s approach is both unbalanced and risky – ignoring the needs of the majority of Canadians right now and endangering the country’s finances in the event of an economic downturn in the future.

Faced with the urgent need for federal government action and investment on a range of issues from threats to the environment to the need to improve conditions on First Nations’ reserves to the need for affordable childcare and quality early childhood education and a national pharmacare plan, the Harper government has sat on its hands and squandered a golden opportunity to invest in the nation’s future.

Given that polls still show that Canadians support increased federal spending on quality public services – even if it prompts tax increases – this is clearly a government that is out of date and out of touch with the people it purports to serve.