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Originally Posted by hiro-acid
No no no, no no, nooooo.. the reason we're in debt is because of the Mulrooney government's American-esque policies of lowering corporate taxes and passing the resulting budget deficits unto us, the citizens.
It's time to stop the corporate welfare state.
"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate the government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power [the corporation]." - Noam Chomsky, as quoted in Joel Bakan's The Corporation (pg. 152).
But to stay on topic, Paul Martin's financial policies have left the vital infrastructures of our country in a dangerous state. I'ld put the money back into social welfare programs - medicare, pharmacare (we should have had this program since the 1980s), student aid, welfare, and general infrastructure (roads, water, environmental cleanup).
I certainly agree paying down the debt is important, but not at the cost of our civil society, especially when it comes at costs paid by those least able - the poor (18.4% of all Canadian children live in poverty, according to the 2000 census, a figure I find personally abhorent - what kind of civil society allows this to happen?).
Devin
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1. Trudeau started the whole deficit spending ball rolling. Mulroney made it an art form.
2. The debt is this generation's debt, not the next generation's, not the generation after that. We created, we should fix it.
I agree that there needs to be a balance between debt repayment and spending increases.
However, where we differ vastly is where to spend it.
I have no problem with better medicare, and better infrastructure, but I disagree with spending a dime on welfare and or social services.
As far as I am concerned, welfare should be a stop gap, not a lifestyle. If you have been on welfare for more than 2 years, there's something wrong and IMHO, the gov't should gradually reduce welfare payments to able bodied individuals on welfare for more than 2 years until say after 2 more years they get zip.
I am tired of supporting dead beats.
One of the best thing Mike Harris ever did was cut welfare payments to deadbeats. Never in the history of Ontario have more people gotten up off their asses and got a job than when Mike derailed the gravy train.
Forget pharmacare also. Let the private sector deal with that one. Most people have pharma programs at work and if you are down and out the gov't buys your pills anyway.
Maybe you could have that when they pay off the debt.