Newmarket
September 18, 2008 11:08 PM
Deputy leader chides Tory tax cuts
By: Patrick Mangion
Michael Ignatieff’s visit was meant to bolster fellow Liberal candidate Tim Jones’ bid for Newmarket-Aurora.
But the message, from his one-hour round table discussion on the sagging state of the country’s infrastructure, got mixed along the way.
One moment the Toronto MP and deputy Liberal leader decried crumbling roads and public buildings, calling for a balanced approach to repair them.
However, moments later Mr. Ignatieff told Newmarket’s council and senior staff that Canadians should throw caution to the wind and treat ourselves to an unprecedented capital spending blowout for the country’s 150th anniversary in 2017.
A new ice rink, seniors centre or community centre would be a “gift to ourselves,” he said.
“We should be cutting a lot of ribbons July 1, 2017. It will cost a lot of money, ya. But we’re a rich country and we should be doing that,” Mr. Ignatieff said.
His message was a call-to-action that strayed from a status-quo funding formula and chided Conservative tax cutting.
Infrastructure rarely ignites oratory fire during a federal election. But it is the spine holding the country’s economy together, Mr. Ignatieff said.
User fees and private sector investment can’t be dismissed. The country’s competitiveness depends on it, he added.
“It’s not just about throwing some change over the back wall. We need to take a serious look at the long-term viability of our economy,” he said.
That means contemplating changes to the federal-provincial funding formula, he added.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s two-per-cent GST cut crippled an important revenue stream and made it nearly impossible to properly fund infrastructure needs, Mr. Ignatieff said.
“(Mr. Harper) spent the cupboard bare.”
On the other hand, his party’s Green Shift plan would change the way Ottawa generates tax revenue. It calls for a carbon tax on greenhouse-gas emitters and assumes corporations will pass along the costs of the tax to consumers.
But to help consumers and companies cover the cost, the Liberals would use their carbon-tax revenue to cut personal and corporate income tax.
“People will ask, ‘Why would you do that?’ We have no choice. That’s why people don’t get it,” Mr. Ignatieff said.
His visit to Newmarket-Aurora came on the heels of a visit days earlier by Industry Minister Jim Prentice with local Conservative candidate Lois Brown.