As they are in any election, business issues will be key factors to consider when Canadians go to the polls on May 2. To help voters get a sense of how the parties differ on some of these issues, Business in Vancouver is surveying representatives of the three federal parties that have seats in B.C. on assorted business-related topics. Organizers for each campaign selected the candidates to respond to the questions on their party’s behalf.
Under Stephen Harper’s principled leadership, Canada is coming out of the deepest worldwide recession since the 1930s. As a result of our quick and effective actions, we have seen six consecutive quarters of positive GDP growth with 480,000 jobs created since July of 2009. That’s more than were lost during the recession. Our priority is to continue on this path and complete the economic recovery, return to balanced budgets and keep taxes on hard-working Canadian families low.
Creating the environment where our economy can grow is how we maintain our social programs, even in the face of demographic challenges from an aging baby boom population.
The key to balancing deficit reduction with social progress is to avoid expensive spending on pet projects like mega-style U.S. prisons while targeting tax dollars on programs that will make a real difference for families.
That’s why the Liberal platform contains targeted spending on post-secondary education, early childhood education and seniors’ care. We cannot afford to spend billions of dollars on untendered fighter jets while ignoring education that is the key to our economic future. We cannot afford to lower an already competitive corporate tax rate while too many seniors live in poverty.
It’s a question of priorities. Stephen Harper’s priorities are to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on the irresponsible procurement of fighter jets, corporate tax giveaways and the salaries of highly partisan appointed senators. With the HST, Harper brought in a job-killing new tax that helps already profitable corporations and hurts families and small businesses.
The Jack Layton New Democrats say the priority should be helping families and small businesses in tough economic times. We will improve health care and home care, strengthen pensions and stimulate job creation through tax incentives for small businesses and investments in education.
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have a low-tax plan for jobs and growth. As part of that plan, we reduced business taxes in 2007 – a move which the Liberals supported.
We are continuing with that plan to keep Canada’s economy strong. We will not comply with the demands of Michael Ignatieff and his coalition partners to increase taxes on the businesses that create jobs and employ Canadians.
We are making Canada a destination for investment, through a 15% corporate tax rate and encouraging the provinces to join us by lowering their rates to 10%, giving Canada a low-tax brand of 25%. We are pleased to see that many provinces, of all political stripes, are joining us in this effort.
Stephen Harper’s corporate income tax (CIT) rate is reckless, unproductive and does nothing for small businesses and job creation. Jack Layton’s New Democrats propose restoring the CIT rate to its 2008 level. This would ensure a competitive rate and the ability to target investment toward job creation.
We would encourage foreign investment by ensuring that our combined federal-provincial CIT rate is always below the American one.
We would also reduce small-business taxes from 11% to 9%. This is a job-creating cut that would stimulate a sector of Canada’s economy that creates nearly half of all new jobs.
The current tax rate is more than competitive within the G20. Stephen Harper’s policy is more about ideology than functionality. When a country is facing economic challenges, the worst thing that can be done is to spend money that you don’t have. The governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin understood. Harper insists on spending for political reasons rather than putting the country on sound fiscal footing.