Furthering the Canadian Feds’ Devolution? “Provinces Ought to Raise Taxes”…Yah, Right…. by neil
Expectedly, this is contextualized as “power-sharing” and “fiscal imbalance” stuff, as a point of continuity in the narrative legacy and the always-argued benefits of flexible institutionalized processes of governance and administration in Canada, which is to say that the statements are coded as things deserving affirmation and ought to seem natural, common-sense…who would oppose them? Anyway, having heard a snippet of a thread of a somewhat-semi-sustained story during the World at Six (CBC national news), Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty was apparently spouting off prior to his initial First Ministers meeting, stating that provinces ought to increase taxes to provide services so as not to lean on federal funding. With eight of ten provinces posting or predicting budget surpluses, the provinces should be left to their own devices and finance themselves in lacking areas.
Wait? What federal funding? What’s that? A 28-29 hands-off, tax-cut “budget” package? Rhetorical device? Programs aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if they can’t pay for themselves? Pooh-pooh? Please permit me to lean on the fecal metaphor for a moment so as to dwell on the messy excrement coming like drivel out of Mr. Flaherty’s mouth. I’m no political analyst – and neither do I want lend autonomy to a capital-only/political economic analysis that trumps all – but this kind of utterance ought not to pass unheeded. That’s why it’s received here with some arm-waving and textual head-shaking.
Recall that this is the same federal government that has clearly shit the bed on a federal child care plan, a national plan to address poverty and working poor, a federally-backed affordable housing initiative, and any modicum of support for education initiatives (which, of course, are respectively already the domains of provincial coffers and politicians). Why should the federales get involved seeing as this is a jurisdiction issue regarding finance? Well, “jurisdiction” seemingly becomes code for the happy wiping of the hands of any messy details that may pass for (hmmm) leadership and some shred of consensus beyond “putting money back into taxpayers’ pockets”. Has the Fraser Institute finally penetrated the inner workings of the finance ministry (that was a moot statement because we’re all well aware of now-embedded neoliberal approach to funding)? Gag. Where, pray tell, are the Five Priorities now?
This comes on the same day the Minister of Defence announced a shaker of 1.2 billion dollar spending package on military gear…Beyond the military and foreign policy, where’s the governance as such from the federal government?
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