Stand and deliver

The latest Nanos survey found a majority of we little beavers want less government spending. Pay down the debt, instead, the pollster was told. Or spend less and decrease taxes. Only one in ten wishes the spigot to be opened more. So, somebody should tell Justin, Chrystia and Jagmeet as they prepare next month’s budget.

For the record, in rough numbers Ottawa spends about $490 billion a year running the place. Revenues are about $450 billion. So we bummed $40 billion. That is added to the $1.2 trillion we already borrowed. The interest bill this year will be $46.5 billion. That’s just under $3.9 billion a month for the mortgage – which is increasing in size by that same amount every few weeks. Yuck.

For context, debt charges now equal all federal spending on health care. They vastly exceed what’s spent on child benefits. It’s more than double what we give the poor military (and fail to meet our NATO commitment). And despite this, Ottawa is launching dentalcare. It will be rolling out full pharmacare. And in the coming (April 19th) budget, polls indicate Canadians want a lot more resources poured into real estate, making it affordable for them.

Suck and blow. That’s us. And the guys who plan to inherit government – the Poilievre Conservatives – haven’t said they would cancel anything. Except the carbon tax.

Well, this is a dilemma. Federal spending seems unsustainable. The federal debt has doubled since the current guys took office. It continues to rise every single day. To balance the books, even over five years, would means massive spending cuts in the most costly programs: health care, seniors’ pensions, indigenous spending, childcare and defence.

Which of those would you choose to throttle?

Reducing government overhead itself is not enough. You could eliminate the entire shebang and still run a big deficit. The problem is the money that’s passed through to Canadians in the form of program spending. And yet people want more. We scream about inadequate health care. First Nations people are suing the government for more. We expect the government to help people afford houses. Wrinklies moan about inadequate public pensions. The air force is flying museum pieces.

Seriously, we need this discussion. It’s time. The Cons must do more than just oppose, blame Trudeau for everything and create YouTubes. Where’s the fiscal roadmap?

So here’s the deal.

Let’s have some adult ideas on how an incoming government can stop this debt/deficit locomotive. Cutting the civil service won’t do it all (total cost is now $30 billion a year to run government. Reducing that by half would gut services and still not halve the deficit.) Scrubbing all foreign aid ($8.15 billion) would end humanitarian programs. Indigenous spending ($35 billion annually) is a reversal. Meanwhile an aging population is exploding OAS and families have come to rely on kiddy pogey. By the way, don’t we need more health care dollars? Should we honour defence commitments in the face of global threats?

Taxation? What about that? Four in ten families now take more from the country than they contribute. The top 10% of income-earners pay 47% of the taxes. The top 5% pay 35%. The top 1% earn 10% of all income and pay 18% of the taxes. We now take 54% of what they bring in. Are we not near the point where higher taxes drive successful people away? Recent stats prove that higher rates actually bring in less revenue.

So, we spend less. Or we collect more. Or both.

What would you like me to pass on to Pierre Poilievre? I know the guy. Let’s do something useful for a chance on this pathetic blog, and come to the aid of the nation.

You in?

About the picture: “Here is Harley chilling out on a sunny winter’s day,” writes Brenda (the sky diver). “Loves to have his own chair and will steal yours if you move. Have read your blog for a few years now, enjoy it immensely.”

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