The Shotgun Blog
« Pulling the trigger earlier | Main | Possible Futures »
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Tory Platform: The good and the ugly.
OK, I know I'm always down on the Conservative Party. Back when I was partisan they broke my little heart with targeted subsidies in tax cut clothing and I've been tough on them ever since.
So I'll come out and say first that there are some good things in the platform.
Lowering trade barriers within Canada and with developing economies is great. Cutting taxes to US Social Security payments makes sense. Lowering the taxes on small businesses is important to economic growth. Making it easier for immigrants to get certified is a step that Canada badly needs to take. Eliminating house arrest for kidnappers and arsonists, introducing earned parole rather than automatic release and getting tougher on drunk drivers. These are all good things and I'd be happy to see any government move towards them. And in spite of caveats galore, there are some other well-intentioned, baby step policies outlined in the document.
But all these things are buried so deep in subsidies, increasing regulations and -- get this -- strengthening the CRTC and continuing strong support for the CBC, that it's hard to get as excited as we should be.
Get a load of some of this cultural spending nonsense as an example:
"A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will prevent telecommunications companies from charging fees to customers for receiving unsolicited commercial text messages. We will amend the Telecommunications Act to strengthen the power of the Commissioner of Complaints for Telecommunications Services, including the creation of a code of conduct for wireless services. We will also create a compliance and deterrent power that allows the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to block these and similar unfair charges in the future."
"A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will respect the unique needs of French-language broadcasting services in Quebec by guaranteeing alternating French- and English-speaking Chairpersons of the CRTC and that one of the two Vice-Chairpersons will be from each official language group. At least 25 per cent of the CRTC commissioners will be French-language speakers, appointed in consultation with Quebec and groups representing linguistic minorities. Hearings related to French language or Quebec broadcasters will be heard by panels consisting of a majority of French-language or Quebec CRTC members."
"A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will increase funding for TV5, the international French-language television network, by $25 million over the next five years."
"A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will maintain financial support for arts and culture at or above existing levels, while continuing to improve the effectiveness of allocations wherever possible. The current government has already invested more in arts and culture than the previous government, including an additional $30 million for the Canada Council for the Arts, $9 million to improve our national museums, $30 million per year to support arts and heritage festivals and renewed $60 million in additional funding in each of the last two years for the CBC. We will continue our record of strong support for the arts."
Look, I know there are political realities out there. I know politicians are out to get elected. I don't expect politicians to act initiate any movement to change how the country is run.
But blogs like this and the huge number of donations solicited by the Conservative Party show that there is support out there for a lot of progress that we could be making towards making Canada less of a haven for special interests and ivory tower types and more of a place where its citizens are treated equally and left freer and more prosperous.
It's clear from this document, though, that the Conservatives won't be going after those smaller-government votes in earnest any time soon.
Posted by Janet Neilson on October 7, 2008 in Canadian Conservative Politics | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834515b5d69e20105356155ea970b
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Tory Platform: The good and the ugly.:
Comments
Harper has been a huge disappointment.
I didn't expect a laissez-faire utpoia; rather, I hoped they would slowly move us towards smaller government. Instead, we've had more spending than even Paul Martin and no action on free speech or health care, etc.
The tragedy is that Canadians would listen to an intelligent center-right argument. But instead, the one politician who could provide it is eager to insist that he, too, will be spending more on whatever the other parties claim that Canadians want.
Posted by: Craig | 2008-10-07 3:12:38 PM
More stupid from the platform:
---
A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will reintroduce federal
copyright legislation that strikes the appropriate balance among the rights of musicians, artists, programmers and other creators and brings Canada's intellectual property protection in line with that of other industrialized countries, but also protects consumers who want to access copyright works for their personal use.
---
Reintroducing the former C-61? After the debacle last time? Let's hope there are some serious changes this time around.
---
A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will introduce legislation to allow Canadians who have been affected by terrorism to sue the sponsors of terrorist organizations, including to recover funds from states that are designated as sponsors of terrorism.
---
That's a nice sentiment, but seriously, how will this work in practice? It'd be too expensive for individuals to litigate, and no class action lawyer will touch it since the judgment will be basically unenforceable. If the lawyers are paid for with public funds, it'll basically be a handout to big firms in order for the judge to say, "Yup, Bin Laden is a bad dude and shouldn't have exploded your family." It's unworkable all around.
Posted by: Voice of Reason | 2008-10-07 3:18:31 PM
If we elect the NDP, Liberals or Greens we'll get more government bureaucracy and more rules to follow, less opportunity to advance ourselves and more depenency on government.
However if we elect the Conservatives we'll get more government bureaucracy and more rules to follow, less opportunity to advance ourselves and more depenency on government.
And that's good enough for me.
All I really want is to link arms with all my comrades and sing the same song...
...over my dead body.
We need "real" change. The status quo is starting to look like something Stalin would have been proud of...except we have "shiny stuff" from China to keep us all happy.
Pathetic.
Posted by: JC | 2008-10-07 3:44:18 PM
ok so they are going to make sure all guns are registered but end the long gun registry? From page 41
A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will ensure that all
firearms belong to licensed gun owners, and that all restricted firearms, including
handguns, are registered. But we will end the wasteful, ineffective long-gun
registry.
WTF that doesn't even make sense.
Posted by: Pete | 2008-10-07 5:13:04 PM
Never mind I miss read the statement, I read "belong" as "belonging".
I want laxer rules on firearms storage and transportation.
I also want people hunting to be able to carry a sidearm. Bowhunting is great and all but bowhunting in bear country without a gun is scary and long guns are heavy.
Posted by: Pete | 2008-10-07 5:16:49 PM
A post at "The Torch":
Conservative defence platform: Pathetic boilerplate
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2008/10/conservative-defence-platform-pathetic.html
Mark
Ottawa
Posted by: Mark Collins | 2008-10-07 5:42:54 PM
No wonder they were so hesitant to unwrap this. More confirmation that they should drop the word conservative from the party name.
Posted by: Alain | 2008-10-07 5:42:56 PM
Vote LIBERAL, for the mother of all tax cuts, the most inovative of tax system, jobs, good jobs, green jobs! No one gets it. It is not a new tax as much as a moved tax. The tax is moved to pollution and comes back to the people as rate reductions, tax credits and better quality, cheaper, greener homes.
Posted by: Jennifer A. Temple | 2008-10-08 9:01:53 AM
Consumption taxes are consumption taxes, no matter which form they take.
That's all the Green Shift is.
Tax pollution and it raises the costs to the consumer. Then, big government comes in to save the populace from the higher prices it created.
Sound a bit like spousal abuse to me.
Posted by: set you free | 2008-10-08 9:05:48 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.