Re: Layton critiques Martin's "new deal" for citie
I really hope the NDP does well in the next election. I'd love to see a strong left that keeps the Liberals in line. Unfortunately, this is filled with factual errors and exaggerations, which really hurts their credibility.
refused to help deliver clean water and maintained the shame of Canada being the only G-8 country not to fund public transit.
That's really sketchy. The federal government is constitutionally barred from interfering with matters of a purely local nature in the province. Though the TTC is very important to Toronto, and Toronto is a very important city, it's hard to argue that the service isn't local. Same goes for the water supply. In fact, over the past decades the provinces have refused direct federal funding for municipal projects, and it wasn't a serious issue because the provinces funded the programs adequately themselves. Unfortunately, now they're short of money and the federal government is now the bad guy for not funding it. The provinces have every ability to raise taxes or reallocate spending if they feel they don't have enough money. Still, I think it's wrong that the feds don't contribute, and I think the money is desperately needed and should come right now. To say it's somehow unfair is quite unreasonable. We have a different system from all of the other G8 countries.
Nothing's changed. In his first month on the job, Prime Minister Martin's priorities are more corporate tax cuts
I may have missed it, but I didn't notice any new corporate tax cuts that he's proposed.
And he has entered talks on joining a dangerous, $1 trillion-Star Wars missile defence program that would cost Canada $10 billion if we were told to contribute only 1 per cent of the cost.
This is the most blatant exaggeration in the whole piece. The trillion dollar pricetag was for Reagan's plan in the 1980s. It's a completely different program. I think the Americans are throwing away money on missile defence, but it's still only a $60-100 billion program. Most importantly, there's no indication that Canada will be required to provide anything other than moral support (which isn't so bad: I'd say to save our moral opposition for matters that will truly hurt other people and the international system, like the Iraq war). Even if Canada were asked to make a contribution, it would certainly be a token amount of a few million dollars.
Instead, we're told municipalities may get a bigger GST refund. This is good, but not great. The City of Toronto alone has paid $500 million in GST since Martin became finance minister. A full refund would provide about $49 million a year, which will still leave the TTC underfunded and a housing crisis in place.
He makes this sound like pocket change, but $49 million a year would go a long way to funding the TTC! Still, they should be given the gas tax money. If the tax has to be raised, so be it. I can't imagine anyone would notice a two cent hike in the gas tax when the price fluctuates by ten cents or more in a week.
It's not naive to believe David Miller or Hazel McCallion would cry bloody murder if McGuinty received federal gas tax money and refused to pass it along to municipalities.
Layton, dangerously for a national leader, fails to recognize that there are other cities in Canada that are short on funds outside of the Toronto area. It is not naive at all to believe that the province of Quebec would withold federal funding to its cities. They are presently rejecting direct federal funding to municipalities. As well, Lastman cried bloody murder all the time about provincial underfunding of Toronto. How much did that help?
Layton has a very good point, though. The federal government does have money, and this is about the biggest priority, except perhaps health care, that they should have. Yes, ahead the crisis that the farmers that contribute 0.5% of our GDP are facing this week. Unfortunately, his very correct point is lost in a morass of exaggeration.
