John Rafferty, our newly-minted MP here in Thunder Bay-Rainy River, has invited district residents to attend a series of pre-budget consultation sessions across the riding this week, including one at Our Lady of the Way School in Stratton tonight and then another at the Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau here tomorrow from 6-9 p.m.
Finance minister Jim Flaherty also has been speaking with various stakeholders and interest groups, as well as consulting with the economic advisory panel he recently appointed, in the run-up to the tabling of his budget on Jan. 27—a budget that will determine whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government survives, a coalition of the Opposition parties takes power, or Canadians head back to the polls.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear answer on which direction to take. On the one hand are those who want Ottawa to spend our way out of the recession—even though that will mean going billions of dollars into deficit over the next few years at least, and maybe longer. Not a particularly comforting prospect given the austerity measures Canadians had to endure during the 1990s to slay the deficit dragon in the first place.
Then there are those, including Mr. Flaherty himself, who think tax cuts are the way to go—putting more money into the pockets of Canadians, who will spend their windfall on goods and services which, in turn, will reignite the stagnant economy and usher in the return of happy days again.
The pitfall of this latter tack is how to avoid what got us into this whole mess to begin with: easy credit. If someone earning $60,000 a year is, in fact, spending $75,000 a year thanks to credit cards, lines of credit, and other incentives, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the whole system eventually will come crashing down.
It’s true credit has tightened somewhat of late, but with the Bank of Canada’s key interest rate near historic lows (and expected to drop even further), along with all those low-interest or interest-free promotions retailers are offering to lure customers into their stores, are we not tempting Canadians to say “Charge it!” and start the snowball rolling all over again?
Obviously, people can’t stop spending altogether otherwise businesses close, jobs are lost, and a whole slew of other problems follow suit. But that certainly doesn’t mean giving Canadians “free” money or easy credit, either. We, as a society, must do our part and quit spending beyond our means.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
