Just read through another very illustrative Goodale Weekly email/report... Once again, Ralph does a great job looking under the window-dressing that is the faux world of "Harper-Land", and cuts right to the chase - the Harper Cons' "con-job" of the Canadian people...
FAMILIES NO BETTER OFF THAN 5 YEARS AGO
It’s been five years since the Harper government came to power.
Coincidentally, in families across the country, there’s a lot of anxiety about high levels of indebtedness and how to afford many of things that are vital to our quality of life – like child care, post-secondary education, pensions and family care-giving.
These aren’t luxuries. They’re necessities for most families. But helping families make ends meet is not on Mr. Harper’s agenda. He says everything’s just fine.
So let’s look at some facts?
Under the Conservatives, the Canadian cost of living has gone up by nearly 10%, while our standard of living has flat-lined. We’re paying more and getting less.
The average Canadian household is the most indebted in the western world. For every dollar of disposable income, the typical family is now carrying $1.47 in debt. This leaves us extremely vulnerable to rising interest rates, which are inevitably coming.
Job quality has declined. Unemployment remains nearly 2% higher than before the recession. Part-time work is up. Full-time jobs are down. And for young Canadians, joblessness is twice as bad as the national average.
For our children – UNICEF ranks Canada dead last on access to child care. Tuition costs are up by more than 20%. Student debt is rising. Three-quarters of parents say they can’t afford post-secondary education for their kids.
For seniors – the poverty rate is up by 25%. Two-thirds of Canadians have nowhere near enough savings to provide for their retirement. And support for family care-givers is pitiful.
So despite Mr. Harper’s boasting, hard evidence shows why many Canadians feel the last five years have been a waste. And there’s more.
Mr. Harper squandered a decade of balanced budgets, turning $13-billion Liberal surpluses into $56-billion Conservative deficits – and a heavier mortgage on our children’s future.
2 comments:
Once again, Ralph is ignoring the basic question. What would Liberals have done differently? Canada is at the top of the heap in all G8 countries. Canadians came out of the recession is great shape. Tell me again, what would the Liberals have done differently?????
Create jobs through direct stimulus. Conservatives believe in giving cash handouts to the rich (even if they take their money out of the country). The Liberal idea is to stimulate growth through LOCAL research and development, and funding Canadian projects to ensure Canadians get back to work with real jobs (not McJobs in the part-time sector).
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