To the editor:
Recently, Canada's premiers met the prime minister to discuss healthcare. The premiers had their hands out as usual, demanding many more billions of dollars than the federal government could possibly afford.
Sure all our governments have exemplified a college girl on a shopping frenzy, spending as much of daddy's money as is humanly possible without any guilt felt. For 3-4 years many governments have borrowed and spent well over a trillion dollars trying to achieve mindset goals such as:
- Rebuilding the very roads, buildings, and bridges we travel on each day.
- Trying to decrease unemployment with the application of job creation schemes.
- Due to the pandemic, buy safety tools and have vaccines fabricated and made available to us all.
- Give each and every member of the federal public sector wage hikes
- Buy new equipment to replace many aged planes, trains, and automobiles.
COVID-19 gave as well as taken away.
In some instances, it took our freedom of choice and many people's health and lives too. It gave CERB to individuals and businesses to try and survive the pandemic's effects and the government's responses to fight it. We had relatively low-interest rates, giving those who bank little returns, but also allowing others to cheaply borrow.
Then those who run our financial institutions declared an end to the serious part of the pandemic. You can get sick but possibly not die from it. The money markets, banking institutions, and Federal Bank decided to jump-start the economy by raising interest rates as a way to control inflation and drive prices downward. They wanted to get back to normal business. What they created was a schizophrenic economy, unable to function and grow as they so hoped. Inflation drops slowly while many prices, particularly those of essential items rose non-stop. Sure the price of a house dropped a bit, but what you needed for dinner increased through "greedflation." Our politicians felt the need to act, and so they did, while they live outside of the lifestyle most of us experience.
The give out are now gone, and in fact, federal authorities are chasing those who may have received more than was their right, pursuing individuals and businesses who have claimed CERB while possibly not deserving to receive it. Various provincial governments and municipalities have increased their taxes and service charges drastically. The federal government refuses to give multiple billions to provinces that cannot or are unwilling to prove where the funds are going. The light that is at the end of the tunnel has arrived, and those in need will especially feel its bright denying lights.
What do governments do when the books need to be cleaned up? Look at the Mike Harris Government for example. Winning the election, defeating an NDP administration that tried to spend funds on progressively accepted services, the Conservatives of old cut and denied services to those most in need, closing institutions and hospitals so that the books could be balanced. Very different from the Ford Conservatives you may say? Ford's PCs are sitting on billions of dollars given to them by the federal government to fight COVID-19. While Premier Ford is in many ways a Liberal-minded conservative, he is a conservative nonetheless. Business and big money have been and will always be the conservative bailiwick. Money for big business? Sure. Where will it come from? Cut,cut and cut. It is coming and soon enough.
The Big Giveaway has ended.
The new word in Queen's Park or any local or state government will be moderation, restraint, financial moderation, or perhaps cost control. The government will spend millions of dollars to persuade us that costs are too high, and the public's pocketbook is bare. It is time for a little restraint folks. The spendthrifts tell those who pay the bills it's time to open our wallets with humility.
Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
