Key Words: parties, election, taxes, jobs, energy, trade
I.
Poll Statistics and the Present
Situation
A federal government election is coming. The winning
majority party will have a term of 4 years, and a minority government can have
a term of 5 years. This article will discuss the platforms of different
parties.
According to the new data released on Sept 11, 2019, both
Trudeau and Scheer are tied at 29 per cent when it comes to who voters think is
most likely to keep their election promises. But on who would do the best job
of tackling Canada’s deficit, 33 per cent picked Scheer.Twenty-two per cent
said the same for Trudeau. Scheer also won out on the question of who would be
best to manage the Canadian economy during tough times, with 31 per cent of
respondents’ support over Trudeau, who took 28 per cent. On the issue who will
make things more affordable, Scheer ranked at 25 per cent on that question
compared to Trudeau at 22 per cent. Nevertheless, three in 10 Canadians (36 per
cent) say they don’t like any of the parties in the election, yet 64 per cent
of respondents say they want a majority government[i].
Some recent changes are the joining of PPC in the debates, new proposed education, EI benefits and gun control policies[ii]. The Leaders’ Debates Commission has invited Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People’s Party of Canada, to two debates on Oct. 7 and Oct. 10 as the party has now satisfied all the criteria such as having attracted a significant number of party members, established a notable presence in the media and on the political landscape and, and has achieved a reasonable chance of success in more than one riding. As to the policies, Children’s Fitness Tax credit proposed by Scheer will allow parents to claim up to $1,000 per child for sports and fitness activities and $500 for academic services like school tutoring. Parents of children with disabilities will receive an extra $500 on both credits. There’s also a promise to make Employment Insurance benefits for new parents tax-free, remove the GST from home heating costs and revive the public transit credits offered under Stephen Harper. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau says he’ll create 250,000 spaces in before- and after-school programs if he’s elected. Trudeau also promised that he would have a new gun control policy to announce in the coming weeks.
1. Climate
Change
The Liberals
have to defend their decision to buy an oil pipeline and explain how that
squares with their promise to respect the Paris accord pledge to meet a target
for reducing greenhouse gas emissions - one the government’s own reports show
it is short of meeting. The Conservatives also have promised to respect the
Paris Accord, but they’re less keen to talk climate. Scheer
did
decide to oppose the UN's global compact on migration. However, some commented the
actual policies it contains would not change Canada's carbon emissions over the
next decade. Canada's international target for 2030 would be missed by a wide
margin. NDP
has a focus on increase spending to combat “climate emergency’ and implement
stricter emission targets as well as a cap and trade scheme. While Liberals,
NDP and Greens are all for the carbon tax, Bernier doesn't just oppose
implementing a price on carbon — he actively dismisses the science and the
threat of climate change. Though the People's Party has shown little
sign so far of breaking out, it's theoretically in a position to siphon
off the votes of Conservatives who don't think Scheer is conservative enough[iv].
2. Economy
and Energy
Conservatives
have promised to end foreign oil imports and get pipelines built, including the
Trans Mountain, which they claim will create “tens of thousands” of jobs. The
party also wants to improve “credential recognition” to make it easier for
immigrants to get jobs, if they have equivalent skills. The People’s Party has
not released a policy on this issue, but claims getting rid of supply
management would create “thousands of jobs.” As to pipelines, Liberals support Line 3, Keystone XL,
the massive LNG project running to B.C.’s coast and the Trans Mountain pipeline
extension, which they bought for $4.5 billion. But they cancelled the Northern
Gateway pipeline and changed the rules for the Energy East pipeline, leading to
the project’s abandonment. Scheer would use constitutional powers to declare
construction of pipelines to be in the national interest, a move he argues
would get them built faster. He also would overturn recent legislation
restricting the movement of oil tankers in northern B.C. The Conservatives cite the decisions to kill the Northern Gateway pipeline
project, ban oil tankers off the northern B.C. coast and push through a
controversial overhaul of the environmental assessment regime as examples of
Liberal indifference toward the oil patch. The People’s Party would do the same. NDP would phase
out the oil and gas sector, cancel the TransMountain pipeline and say no to
LNG. While NDP and Greens would expand the government role and cost on crown
companies, Liberals and Conservatives would make no change, and PPC would try
to encourage more competition to achieve cost reduction and efficiency.
3. Foreign
Trade and International Affairs
Conservatives
were quick to criticize the Liberals when they struck the USMCA deal, arguing
it was worse for Canadians than the old one. They specifically complained about
its impact on softwood lumber and dairy. They’ve even released attack ads on
it. Maxime Bernier criticized the negotiation team for acting like “amateurs.”
He said he was happy to see supply management come up during the negotiations
but was disappointed that it wasn’t eradicated entirely. The NDP is the wild
card in this situation. The party has called for the agreement to be reopened
to make changes to the way drug price regulations are set and ensure lower drug
prices. While Liberals and Greens would continue to send out and increase
foreign aid in billions, PPC wants to limit to only emergent and humanitarian
aid. As the relationship with China is concerned, Elizabeth May says that solar
technology is now very mature, and all that people need is installation. She
believes that the federal government should eliminate tariffs on solar panels
imported from China. These products are the cheapest and reliable. Canada
should import a large volume, so that individuals and institutions can enjoy
cheap solar energy, thus reducing dependence on BC Hydro. It is even possible
to sell excess energy back to BC Hydro. Alternatively, electric vehicles can be
manufactured in factories in China, and through these practical and feasible cooperation,
trust between the two countries can be established[v].
4. Immigration
On
immigration, Liberals want to accept more refugees and immigrants and allow
local communities, chambers of commerce and labor groups to directly sponsor
sponsorship Resident application, achieving the goal of accepting 350,000
immigrants per year by 2021, while imposing measures to crack down on “asylum-shopping”
and regulate immigration consultants. Scheer stressed the importance of
“economic immigration” and prioritizing those facing “true persecution.”
Conservatives also want to encourage economic immigrants, crack down on illegal
border crossings and improve immigration qualifications. They would promote the
private sponsorship of refugees, increase refugee screening and reopen
negotiations on the Safe Third Country agreement. Both NDP and the Green Party stressed
the need to tackle applicant backlogs and prioritize family reunification. It
promises to regulate the immigration consultant industry and get rid of the
Safe Third Country agreement. The People’s Party wants a cut down on immigrants
and refugees due to the resource limitation, increase the ratio of skilled
immigrants from 26% to more than 50%[vi],
and would rely instead on private sponsors for refugee settlement. It promises
to designate the entire border an official port of entry, fence off problem
areas and send back those crossing illegally, prohibit birth tourism and put an
end to extreme multi-culturalism.
5. Healthcare
and Social Policies
Liberals have
promised to take the "critical next steps" toward a national
pharmacare program but are giving few details beyond that. Conservatives also
have pledged to increase health transfer payments by at least 3% yearly and
uphold other parts of the health accord. They’ve dismissed pharmacare and would
instead focus on those not covered provincially or not at work. To tackle wait
times, the party has promised $1.5 billion to buy more MRI and CT machines. NPDs
say they want to expand the current model to include mental health, dental, eye
and hearing coverage. They are also proposing a “pharmacare for all” plan,
covering Health Canada-approved drugs, by late 2020. It would cost an estimated
$10 billion annually — cheaper than the plan being looked at by Liberals. They
oppose any privatization. The
People’s Party claims there’s too much federal meddling in health care. It’s
proposing making provinces and territories fully responsible for funding and
managing health services. They also want more options for private healthcare.As to the relationship with Aboriginals, Liberals want to pay more to BC reserves, while little is known about Conservatives’ stand. The People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier would explore ways to replace the Indian Act with a new legal framework. He suggests western pipelines would present Indigenous people with a “golden opportunity for economic development.” He also wants to look at ways to give Indigenous people individual property rights on reserve and bring clean drinking water to remote communities.
As to housing, New Democratic Party would get 500,000 affordable housing units built in the next 10 years with no GST on new rental apartment buildings.
As to education, Liberal Party would increase the subsidy for college students to $4,200 per year; the grace period for paying student loan interest would be extended from 6 months after graduation to two years; if the annual salary of graduates is less than $35,000, interest will be suspended; graduates of new parents may choose to suspend student loans until the child is 5 years old. Conservative Party would increase the government's contribution to the Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) from 20% to 30%, to no more than $2,500 per year. NDP would cancel interest on the federal portion of student loans. The Green Party would invest $10 billion to exempt students of tuition from post-secondary institutions; cancel existing federal student loans and the current Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). The People's Party believes that education should be a matter of provinces.
While almost all the parties (except for the Conservative Party on the issue of Michael Cooper) said Yes to Section 13 allowing political parties to bypass criminal code to criminalize speech of their choice and censor and delete records of MP Michael Cooper, PPC said No to Section 13 and voted No to censor and delete the relevant records.
6.
Budget,
Taxation and Subsidies
The Liberals are
proposing a $15,000 starting point for personal income tax, a 10% luxury good
tax and a 3% surtax on advertizing and data revenue of large digital
businesses. There is a big difference in the income tax cut between
Conservatives and Liberals as shown below, with the plan of Conservatives more
appealing. PPC would try to have a balanced budget at the end of 2 years, while
CPC changes its timeline from 2 to 5 years. PPC is proposing a simplified,
two-bracket federal income tax. It also wants to reform and reduce equalization
payments to ensure fairness and independence. The party would replace the
federal health transfer with tax points, allowing provinces to raise their own
money. The party also suggests the removal of taxes on capital gains. New
Democrats propose hiking the rate for capital gains inclusion from 50 to 75 per
cent. They also want to hike the top federal personal income tax rate from 33
to 35 per cent for people with an annual income higher than $210,000, raise the
corporate tax rate to 18%, and impose a one per cent wealth tax on those making
more than $20 million. The Green Party is aiming for an entire tax system
overhaul, looking to establish an arms-length Federal Tax Commission. In the
meantime, the party would go after companies that use offshore tax havens,
raise the corporate tax rate to 21%, tax transnational e-commerce corporations
in Canada, put a surtax of 5% on commercial bank profits, and impose a 0.5%
financial transaction tax on the finance sector.
Liberals, Conservatives and NDP all would like to keep
the 9% small business tax rate, yet they have not come up with many good
incentives. According to the People’s Party, government cannot pick winners and
losers. Only the free market can. Giving bailouts to bankrupt businesses is not
only a waste of taxpayer dollars, but it serves to distort the market to reward
failure. The best way to ensure that businesses can succeed is to get needless
regulation out of the way and to cut corporate taxes. Therefore, this party
recommends a complete abolishment of corporate welfare, while the Conservatives,
the NDPs and the Greens want to reduce it.
III.
What Canadians Need
Canada is now in an economically difficult time due to both the trade
war between the world’s two superpowers and Canada’s snowballing fiscal deficit
and ever increasing family debt. Also, socially, Canada is getting more and
more confused with relaxation on marijuana and gender definition. While every
year, in some emergent economies, high net-worth millionaires are constantly
increasing even after many have emigrated. Campbell Harvey said what we wanted
to avoid was a replay of a hard landing associated with the 2008 global
financial crisis[vii].
Sometimes, people wonder what the government is doing should not be done, while
what should be done by the government is not done by it at all. A sensible wise
government needs to cut taxes on small businesses, stimulate the economy by
investing in infrastructure and help hiring more people, and remove all
subsidies and taxes (such as the Equalization Tax) that are unfair, so as to create
an atmosphere that the hard-working and the ones that help each other are
rewarded.
Some people argue, the Psalms describe good leaders as those who defend
the cause of the poor, deliver the needy and put down the oppressor. They claim
to have much more in common with atheists and Islam than with conservative
Christians, and Jesus never mentioned about homosexuality, but has an awful lot
to say about overturning the gap between the rich and the poor[viii].
Paul’s approach to homosexuality and homosexual acts reflects the assumption he
shares with other Jews of his time, that all people are heterosexual because
God created humans male and female (Gen 1:27). Feeling or acting otherwise is
unnatural and against God’s intent, an abomination Leviticus taught was worthy
of death (Lev 18:20; Lev 20:13; see Rom 1:32)[ix].
Some passages in the Qur’an seem to deliberately contradict the biblical
proclamation about Jesus Christ. For example, “Those who say: ‘The Lord of
Mercy has begotten a son,’ preach a monstrous falsehood.” Moreover, while
respecting Jesus as a prophet of God, the Qur’an does not affirm the deity of
Jesus Christ or his death as a substitute payment for sins[x].
Also, how should we fill the gap between the rich and the poor? Should we just
rob the rich to make the poor richer but the whole economy worse, or, should we
set up a system to improve the living standard of everyone and encourage the
rich to help the poor?
Canadians now need a strong, independent and unified Canada led by straightforward
honest leaders with vision, principle, pragmatism, experience and influence like
Tommy Douglas, Pierre Trudeau and Lester B. Pearson[xi].
IV.
Conclusion
Canada needs a party with vision, daring and resolution, openness to
criticism and focus on pragmatism so as to be again put into a fast track to
prosperity. A country with a rich people is more likely to be a strong one[xii].
今后4-5年哪个党将领导加拿大？
摘要：最近的民意调查显示，保守党和自由党之间咬得很紧。尽管自由党、新民主党和绿党都要加碳税，但伯尼尔不光是反对对碳定价，他认定气候变化是一个伪命题，而且威胁也不大。自由党人想把个税起征点提高到15，000元，并开征奢侈品税。保守党已承诺结束外国石油进口，并修建包括跨山隧道工程在内的管道，声称这将创造“成千上万”的就业机会。保守党援引砍掉北门管道项目、禁止油轮从卑诗省北部海岸驶离、并推动环境评估制度进行有争议改革的例子，认为自由党对石油漠不关心。在贸易方面，伊丽莎白·梅希望从中国进口太阳能电池板，并在那里制造电子汽车。在移民方面，保守党希望鼓励经济移民，打击非法越境，促进难民的私人赞助并增加对难民的甄别。在医疗保健和社会政策方面，该党已承诺以15亿美元购买更多的MRI和CT扫描仪。保守派对中产阶级的所得税削减计划比自由党更具吸引力。
人民党正在提议简化的两级联邦所得税，该党将用税收点代替联邦医疗卫生转移，使各省能自我筹集资金。绿党将围剿使用离岸避税天堂的公司，将公司税率提高到21％，对加拿大的跨国电子商务公司征税，对银行利润征收附加税，并对金融部门征收微薄的金融交易税。人民党承诺取消所有公司补贴，而保守党、新民党和绿党承诺只削减部分补贴。由上可见，各党政见不一。加拿大需要一个有远见、有魄力、对批评持开放态度并注重实用主义的政党，以便再次进入繁荣之路。一个人民富裕的国家更有可能成为一个强国。
关键词：政党，选举，税收，工作，能源，贸易
[i] Amanda
Connolly: Trudeau jumps ahead of Scheer as voters’ choice for best prime
minister, Global News, Sept 18, 2019, please take time to view the article by
clicking the website https://globalnews.ca/news/5913686/canadian-federal-election-best-prime-minister-poll/.
[ii]
Stuart Thomson: Federal election 2019 roundup: People's Party of Canada invited
to official leaders' debates, 16 Sept 2019, National Post, https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/federal-election-2019-roundup-scheer-campaigns-out-west-while-trudeau-pledges-to-answer-some-questions.
[iii] Ashley Burke: How do
the main parties compare on these issues? CBC News, https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/federal/2019/party-platforms/,
accessed on 25 Sept, 2019; PPC: Dare to Compare, August 5, 2019; the 2019 Federal
Election Early Vote Begins Today! Make up for the Political Platforms of All Parties
So as You Know Them by Heart, and to whom
Unheard News, Phoenix NAC Canada Program Center, 11
October 2019, see the Chinese article
[iv]
Aaron Wherry: Why Andrew Scheer's campaign platform sounds so ... familiar, CBC
News, 24 Sept, 2019, please take time to view the article by clicking the
website https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/andrew-scheer-campaign-promises-harper-trudeau-2019-election-1.5275774.
[v] Want
to Change the Day? The Conservative Party Polls Excel the Liberal Party! Sheer
wants to Reset Sino-Canadian Relations, Canadian Urban Life, 14 October 2019,
view the Chinese article
[vi] Want
to Change the Day? The Conservative Party Polls Excel the Liberal Party! Sheer
wants to Reset Sino-Canadian Relations, Canadian Urban Life, 14 October 2019,
view the Chinese article
[vii]
Duke Today Staff: It's Official: The Yield Curve is Triggered. Does a Recession
Loom on the Horizon? Duke Today, July 1, 2019, please take time to view the
article by clicking https://today.duke.edu/2019/07/its-official-yield-curve-triggered-does-recession-loom-horizon.
[viii] Peter
Gilmer: the Bible and the Ballot, Prairie Dog, Oct 10-23, 2019, please click
the link https://prairiedogmag.com/2019-10-10/the-bible-and-the-ballot/.
[ix] William
Loader: Homosexuality in the New Testament, Bible Odyssey, please click the
link https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/related-articles/homosexuality-in-the-new-testament,
accessed on 16 Oct 2019.
[x] Timothy
C. Tennent: the Bible and Islam, Crossway, Sept 11, 2018, please click the link
https://www.crossway.org/articles/the-bible-and-islam/.
[xi] The Greatest Canadian, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Canadian,
accessed on 5 October 2019.
[xii] Ye
Zhao: Goujian's Return to Foreign Countries (in Chinese), Wu Yue Spring and Autumn,
East Han Dynasty, https://baike.baidu.com/item/民富国强.
It is usually said that a direct tax is one that cannot be shifted by the taxpayer to someone else, whereas an indirect tax can be.
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