Is Everyone Blind? Harper is Stealing From Canadians to Give to Americans While Stating it is For Our Own Good

In 2007, a group of Canadian mayors began a campaign called the One Cent Now, which was a plan presented to the Harper government, where instead of reducing the GST, they would take the 1 cent saving, which helped no one, and give it to the municipalities.

Canada’s cities deliver the services that our residents rely upon more than those of any other government. However, the revenues of cities do not match their responsibilities and there remains a significant gap between the infrastructure that is required to maintain growth and the money available to make it happen.

The One Cent NOW! campaign requests the federal government to share one cent of the existing GST with cities to ensure that infrastructure and important services are maintained and that future infrastructure is built in an environmentally friendly manner.

This would have stimulated the economy and created jobs. It was a good idea, so naturally the Harper government rejected it.

Instead they have continued with their neoconservative agenda of tearing down our social infrastructure and trading off our services for the benefit of corporations. With this in mind, they are going through with the corporate tax cuts, while telling the average Canadian that they will simply have to do without.

This despite the fact that Canada already has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world.

But here's the kicker.

Because our corporate tax rate will be lower than the United State's, this is against American law. Their companies cannot operate in a country with a lower tax rate, so they have to make up the difference and put it into the American Treasury.

So while Harper is promising to cancel public health care, reduce pensions and privatize everything, because he claims we can no longer afford to function as a country, he is putting money into the American treasury to make up for our ridiculously low tax rate.

In other words they reject good ideas in exchange for very poor ideas.

I'm not the only one who thinks this is nuts.

In a bizarre twist of fate, some of the money saved by American companies operating in Canada simply gets transferred to the U.S. Treasury. Their rules require that foreign operations pay taxes at no less than the U.S. rate, or make up the difference to Uncle Sam. Studies by economist Erin Weir show that money not collected by Ottawa is instead taxed by Washington for the benefit of Americans. Instead of helping to solve the massive infrastructure backlog in communities across the country, Flaherty is giving away billions to his U.S. counterpart.

You will forgive us then, when working people object to politicians telling us that we have to sacrifice our wages or pensions for some “greater good.” The rules keep changing, but always to the benefit of global corporations instead of working families. We have watched unemployment insurance being gutted, good jobs shipped offshore, and bad trade deals undermine our standard of living. More and more, young people are finding work only through temp agencies or short-term contracts. There is something wrong with this picture — the priorities need to change.

Our society faces some serious challenges that call for a robust public response. We can start making the right choices by cancelling the outrageous corporate tax cuts and investing in vital public services instead.

Wake up people. Both the Liberals and NDP promise to cancel these tax grabs for the rich if elected. We have to get rid of this government ASAP, before they get rid of us.