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The Chretien Liberals have been using deception in order to get
themselves re-elected. This even leads them to suggest that if
Canadians re-elect them for another term of office, there will be
a change in the course of paying the rich and cutting massive
amounts from social program spending. At a meeting with members
of the Quebec City Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, May 15,
however, Prime Minister Chretien made it clear that his
re-election will mark another term of the society being held
ransom to the rich.
He proclaimed to the Chamber of Commerce that if he is re-elected
the federal budget will be "balanced" within two years,
surpassing even the promises of Finance Minister Paul Martin.
Chretien explained how the Liberals have already shifted huge
amounts of money away from spending on social programs and
promised that this would not change until the deficit is
completely eliminated. He said "we're telling Canadians you have
to choose a government that will clearly establish the priorities
- for the first time in a long time - for a balanced budget."
"We'll be there in two years," he said, adding that "We won't
change course." What are the people to do in the meantime? Why
don't the Liberals balance the budget by asking the rich to wait
for two years? In fact, the budget can be balanced even today if
there were a moratorium on the debt and military expenditures
were decreased, etc. Why are the Liberals not considering these
options?
In promising to make "deficit reduction" and a "balanced
budget" the "priority" of the society, Chretien is declaring that
the standard by which fiscal and budgetary policies are
formulated will remain one in which only the claims of the
financial oligarchy are recognized.
The priority of a modern society must be to fulfil its
responsibility towards all its members and guarantee the right of
all people to education, health care and social security.
"Balancing the budget" without this starting point has been
exposed as a euphemism for fiscal and budgetary policies that
recognize only the claims of the rich on the society.
The Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada (MLPC) is presenting a
political and economic program which would eliminate deficit
financing and the enslavement of the society to the financial
oligarchy by imposing a moratorium on the debt. Instead of
increasing amounts of the public treasury being used to pay the
rich, in the form of interest payments on the debt, the interest
payments would be diverted to increase funding in health,
education, and other social programs.
TML Daily, May 1997
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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