the issues... and some solutions

the issues... and some solutions

Adscam: easily the single biggest threat to the Liberal government. Harper could have gone for the jugular here, but didn't; he did get some hits in though. The minor party leaders scored several hits on this one too. The public is at least aware of this issue, as it led off the evening.

This issue should drive the Liberals completely into the ground, as bad as the drubbing the Progressive Conservatives of old took back in the election that first saw Jean Chretien elected Prime Minister.

Canada/US Relations: these have deteriorated considerably over the Liberal reign, which is dangerous to Canada economically and as part of international relations as a whole.

Canada must immediately repair its relations with our largest trading partner, with whom we share the longest undefended border in the world. We must get serious about our passport and immigration system, our intelligence-gathering, and the protection of our ports and airports and other points of entry into the country. We have to assist the US in the war on terrorism by making sure they know that people coming into the States from Canada or who have access to vital American interests within Canada are no threat to them. The only way to be sure is to tighten up the security at our ports and airports and streamline the visiting and immigration process.

International relations: Related to the above, our international voice is only as strong as our military.

Canadian Military: Liberal defense policy can best be summed up by the Sea King helicopters our military currently uses. Most Sea Kings are far older than the troops using them.

The military needs an immediate infusion of cash and a much larger annual budget, to gradually increase its strength over the next decade. The only reason Canada has any security at all right now is because of the Americans, and we are not contirbuting our share - there simply are not enough men or resources in the Canadian military.

Day Care: A Statist day care system is rapidly driving Quebec into bankruptcy, costing Quebec parents $7 a day but the Quebec government $50 per day, per child. This is the model that the Liberals want to emulate across Canada. The idea should be tossed out completely before it starts.

Health Care: A Statist health care system that is rapidly driving Canada into bankruptcy. In need of urgent reform.

Canada absolutely must change course on health care. The solution isn't going to be without its flaws, but those will be self-correcting. That is, offer Canadians the option of buying Federal health insurance, provincial health insurance, or private health insurance. Each hospital, medical clinic, medical lab, optometry or dental office, would become a private entity, and would be paid by the insurance companies or funds involved. That way, each Canadian would still have access to health care, but if they wanted to they could pay more to have potentially life-saving surgery or diagnostics done far sooner.

Provincial and municipal issues: are not federal responsibilities, yet federal politicians seem to dabble in them. Likewise, federal politics are outside of municipal governments' responsibilities, yet we get examples like Red Deer, Alberta declaring themselves a "nuclear free zone". Ridiculous (in the literal sense) and out of order.

Federal/Provincial tax transfers: Hoo boy, where do I start. These should stop completely. The health care solution provided above would go a long way to solve this, as that's the bulk of the transfers are supposed to be for.

In the Maritimes, the oceans used to be teeming with fish, and the average person could make a living in the fishing industry. When the cod stocks fell off, there wasn't enough of a supply of fish to employ everyone anymore. Unemployment rose sharply, and many now live on the fishing industry for only a short time each year, and then live on Employment Insurance the rest of the year.

In Alberta, family farms used to dominate the landscape. With improvements in technology, a single family could farm a much larger area than ever before; more and more moved into the cities. Fewer and fewer farmers are using more land. People make their own jobs, find other occupations; working in the oilpatch (lots of Maritimers came here to do just that, and good on them, we're glad to have them here), getting an education and working in high tech fields. Every man, woman, and child in Alberta contributes on average $3700 every year to the transfer fund, over and above regular taxes.

The transfers simply do not work. They entrench the economic conditions that depress the Maritimes, while punishing those who move to where the jobs are or make their own jobs. They must end altogether.

The very best way to put Canada back on the tracks:

First, implement the health care solution mentioned above. Then, radically downsize the government, cutting total staff by more than 50 percent while increasing the absolute numbers in the military. End most government departments and programs except those that constitute the "core business" of the federal government as defined by the Constitution. End income taxes altogether. Fund all government activites via a single federal sales tax, lotteries and various insurance premiums.

Next, enshrine in law that the first line item in a federal Budget is to be a payment on the principal of the federal debt. The second line should be a "growth fund", from which no money is removed until the federal debt is eliminated. At that time, the interest on the growth fund can be used to fund government activity such as the Canada Pension Plan. (The CPP should also be reformed along the lines of the reform to the health care system outlined above.) The interest on the growth fund could also be used to provide Canadians with dividends, as Alaska does.

Furthermore, outlaw deficit budgets as Alberta did in the early 90s. Make a law that a deficit report for the previous year's budget automatically triggers a general election two months later; this measure is to come into play on a government's second and subsequent budgets.

The solutions provided above would allow Canadians to keep more of their own money, to make their own decisions, and to know that their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandchildren will not still be paying off the debt. Instead, the debt would be completely gone in only a few decades, the health care system will streamline and improve itself with the bureaucracy gone, Canada will be able to defend itself, speak for itself on the world stage, and help our allies as needed.