DOES CANADA NEED ITS BLOATED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT? By Eric S. Margolis CALGARY, ALBERTA - The most important issue in Monday's election is neither health care nor PM Jean Chretien's ethics. It's about whether Canada - so aptly described as `rich by nature; poor by government' - a. continue stumbling onward as an bloated federal state, with multiple layers of redundant government, or b. finally downsizes its extraordinarily large, expensive and inept ruling establishment. The Liberals are the party of big government. Under their patron saint, Pierre Trudeau, the federal government went from consuming 30% of national income to 53%. When government devours more than half of a nation's economic output, government no longer serves taxpayers, taxpayers serve government. Other countries call this socialism. In Canada, it's termed `justice and compassion.' The Liberal's little pinkish rump, the Progressive Conservatives, orTories, and the feebly marxist NDP, favor the same big government and socialist policies promoted by Liberaldom and its megaphones, CBC and the Toronto Star. The Alliance Party, the target of intense hatred by Canada's mostly left-leaning journalists, advocates reducing the size and powers of federal government, giving provinces primary decision-making in education, health care, and taxes. Bloc Quebcois also supports this position and says separatism will end once Canada decentralizes. Decentralization would bring Canada closer to the exemplary model of Switzerland, a nation of four languages. There, each canton makes its own social and economic policies. The tiny federal government in Bern handles only defense, foreign affairs, central banking, and railways. Seventy percent of taxes Canadians pay on average - 70% - go to support the vast federal government in Ottawa. Provincial governments, which very ably conduct the real business of running Canada, get only a paltry 30%. According to civics textbooks, a federal government's primary functions: defense; foreign relations; managing the currency and central bank; the post office. Ottawa's performance grades: *Defense: Behind the charade of peacekeeping, Trudeau and his successors virtually disarmed once powerful Canada, making it a pathetic military eunuch. Canada's token combat ground forces have less men than the New York City Police Dept. Thanks to the Liberals, disarmed Canada has become a de facto American military protectorate. Grade: F. *Foreign Relations: A nation without military power and little cash to hand out has no international influence. Canada is known as NATO's `weak sister.' Contrary to Ottawa's self-promoting puffery, Canada's foreign policies are widely ignored abroad or dismissed as platitudes. The one nation that matters to Canada, the USA, with accounts for 50% of national income and 86% of exports, has been goaded and enraged for decades by Ottawa's leftish foreign policy poobahs. Grade D-. *Currency/Central Bank: Ottawa always takes credit for a good economy, but that's the result of the free market, not government. Where Ottawa exercises crucial control - over the nation's currency - its record is borderline criminal. In three decades, the once mighty Canadian dollar has been stealthily degraded by Ottawa from US$1.06 to today's Trudeau dollar at a humiliating 64 cents. Ver few Canadians understand 40% of their assets has been stolen. A currency once the equal of the Swiss franc has become wampum. The government assures its citizens the debauched dollar does not matter. Liberals finally managed to halt annual deficits begun by Trudeau, but have done nothing about the monster $576 billion federal debt. Servicing it consumes a whopping 25% of taxes Canadians pay. Foreign investment is Canada's lifeblood. But no one wants to invest in a shaky nation with a steadily sinking currency and crushing debt. Canada is thus denied vital long-term capital inflows, meaning the increasingly uncompetitive and inefficient economy will fall ever further behind the US, Europe, and Asia. There is a total lack of confidence in Canada's economic leadership under the left. Grade: F If the Liberals were running a real business, they'd have been fired long ago and sued to kingdom come for malfeasance. Canadians pay 25% more taxes than Americans, yet show little for it, except the Third World Trudeau dollar, huge debts, and a doomed socialized health system. For a few hundred dollars monthly, Americans can buy health insurance that gives better medical service than in Canada. So what does Ottawa actually do? The Feds are primarily a giant patronage scheme in which voters are gulled into clapping like trained seals when they receive `government benefits.' In this shell game, Ottawa taxes people $10, spends $8 on itself and buying votes from special interest groups)known as `income redistribution' and `fairness'), then hands back $2 to the grateful credulous. Many naive Canadians actually believe government creates wealth. Getting more from government than one puts in, the free lunch, is the Canadian way. Tax the rich scream Ottawa's socialists...rich in Canada being anyone who makes over $60,000. Liberals long ago realized that if they could manage to directly or indirectly employ 51% of the work force, they would be assured re-election. Staunchly pro-Liberal Ontario, chock full of bureaucrats and government-pampered unionists, is exhibit A. Dare reduce big government, warn its defenders, and society will revert to poverty and the stone age. Women are particularly susceptible to such disinformation. If Canada downsized to a Swiss-sized federal government, cutting larded layers of redundant bureaucracy and double sets of politicians - the Alliance's plan for national liposuction- Canadian's federal taxes could be slashed by 55%. They won't need Ottawa to throw them crumbs called `benefits.' The only thing holding Canada back from growing up economically and becoming a modern, competitive nation is too much useless, expensive, self-serving government. Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2000 ************************************************************************ ********************************** To send *personal mail* to Eric Margolis, please do not click reply, but use this link: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ************** To UNSUBSCRIBE to this list click the following link and enter the words UNSUBSCRIBE FOREIGNC in the body of the email. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
