Canadians will be heading to the polls well before US citizens in 2004, it turns out. As the federal elections approach, Canadians are once again faced with a truly abysmal choice. The Liberals are an appalling gang of crooks, from the Prime Minister (who owned a steamship line that uses flags of convenience, hurried off to occupy Haiti with the US and has Canadian troops overseeing the ongoing massacre in that country, and is now apparently telling audiences at speaking events that Saddam had WMD and now they’re in the hands of terrorists — when not even the Bush Administration is trying to use that old lie) on down, and the Conservative Alliance has a wide range of debate, from the open and unapologetic racism of Stephen Harper and Stockwell Day to… okay it’s actually not really a very wide range at all. The NDP is more interesting: they might be able to pick up some seats from the Liberals, which would be a good thing.
For just a slight taste of a long-standing trend in Canadian politics that whatever gang wins this election is unlikely to change, check this recent article on Kanehsatake that I did, on a Mohawk community near Montreal. OCAP works with folks in Kanehsatake.
More below.
In Ontario, the media and elite are up in arms over a levy that the Liberals have proposed. A ‘levy’ is not to be confused with a ‘tax’. This ‘levy’ will go to health care, and it is graduated — apparently in the low income bracket people will pay $400/yr, and the most you’d pay is $900. I am also quite appalled by this ‘levy’, though not for the same reasons. If the highest income in Ontario were twice the lowest, such a levy would be appropriate. But since the highest income in Ontario is probably 200 times the lowest, that would make more sense as a ‘levy’ to save health care. Or we could restore corporate taxes, or something crazy like that. Rick Salutin in the Globe and Mail , a decent Canadian progressive, makes a case for raising taxes in Ontario. The Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, another very decent progressive outfit, publishes an alternative budget every year.
