Canadian Federal and Provincial Politics - The Northern Pundit

CTV News has a report that Stephen Harper today vowed to commit $250,000,000 to the fight against cancer.

With both Liberal Leader Paul Martin and NDP Leader Jack Layton taking a break from the hustings on Saturday, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper used the election spotlight to promise $250 million over five years to help fund the battle against cancer.

Harper pledged that the annual $50 million in funding would bankroll the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control (CSCC), a network of all major cancer organizations and stakeholders, including the Canadian Cancer Society.

Wow, he’s even firing both barrels on Saturday - Can it continue until January?

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In one of the greatest yet most irrelevant issues yet in this election race, the Liberal4Life blog has turned me onto an Ottawa Citizen article regarding the Liberal Party of Canada using actual Liberal voters to pose as Liberal supporters in their campaign commercials. It’s a great post, and is worth reading:

And what does the article say about the Conservatives’ use of people who aren’t Average Canadians?

But the Conservative party’s televised advertisements so far in this campaign have featured … people who are clearly actors.

I suppose the alternative and most acceptable way to proceed making commercials would be to have Conservatives posing at Liberals and vice-versa.

Here it is as a Link…

The Globe’s Subscriber section has an offbeat story about Stephen Harper sentimentally honoring John Lennon by singing a verse of “The Ballad of John and Yoko”:

A John Lennon fan, Mr. Harper was honouring the 25th anniversary of the musician’s death and sang a verse of The Ballad of John and Yoko. He told reporters that the day has been forever etched in his mind.

I find it oddly ironic that the leader of the right wing reformers in Canada is a Lennon fan. I wonder if he has any “Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band” in his collection as well?

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The Globe and Mail is reporting that Stephen Harper has pledged new Conservative tax breaks for Seniors.

In the first stop of a swing through southern Ontario, Harper was at a seniors community centre to say that a Tory government would raise to $2,500 over five years the annual amount that seniors can obtan from their pension tax free. Harper would immediately double the $1,000 figure and increase it by another $500 over five years.

He said the tax relief move was aimed primarily at middle-class retirees whose earnings are just above what they receive through the Guaranteed Income Supplement.

I am not sure if this is a quick-fire response to the NDP proposal or just coincidental timing. A friend suggested to me that that conservatives have an “Announcement per Day” plan, that certainly explains the non-stop action in announcements.

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CBC reports that Stephen Harper has announced a plan to give workers, students, and apprentices a tax cut if he were to be elected:

The plan includes giving workers a tax deduction of up to $500 for tools, Harper said Thursday while campaigning in North Bay, Ont.

As well, there would be a $1,000 grant for apprentices in their first two years, and a tax credit of 10 per cent of an apprentice’s wages for two years, to a maximum of $2,000.

Again, I find it hard to even fathom how this is ‘conservative’. More vote buying, more money going out the window.

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I have created a page outlining the 2006 Election Campaign Promises for the major non-Bloq party leaders. Feel free to comment or suggest additions/etc to improve the page.

I have not included the Bloq candidates as they are simply not an option for most Canadians outside Quebec, and the main reason that they would recieve votes is due to the separatist issue.

The London Free Press has a report concerning Stephen Harper speaking in Saint John yesterday about further small business benefits.

Companies pay 12-per-cent tax until their profits reach $300,000. Then the levy jumps to the corporate rate of 21 per cent.

The Conservatives want to raise that tax threshold to $400,000, a move Harper said was recommended by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

But lowering the tax rate itself to 11 per cent would take more time, Harper said.

This seems to be a more sensible move to stimulate the economy than lowering the GST, although I am a biased small business owner. It certainly follows the classic conservative standpoint of little government involvement in business, yet with all these cuts one wonders where the money to fill the federal coffers will come from?

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Stephen Harper continues firing shells early on in this election campaign. I wasn’t even done posting the story about Martin’s Handlers spinning his fast and furious pace when News came in from cnews about another huge announcement:

A Conservative government would cut the tax rate of small businesses to 11 per cent from 12 per cent over five years, Leader Stephen Harper said Wednesday.

Although a 1% tax cut over 5 years isn’t something that would be their campaign’s bombshell, but it’s a huge break for business. The Conservatives continue to pound the pavement fast and hard to get their party’s message out quick - without a doubt making an effort to keep away the “hidden agenda” rumors that plagued them last election.

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The Globe has a story featuring a snippit from Paul Martin’s handlers:

He’s [Harper] their biggest vulnerability and they’re jamming him down people’s throats every day

To me this is a weak attempt overall to ’spin’ the fact that Harper has campaigned harder than Martin. Why address it at all? It makes them look nervous that the conservatives may have gained some ground.

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The Liberal Party of Canada’s website features a press release responding to conservative child-care critic Rona Ambrose’s statement on CTV’s Canada AM this morning:

“You’re not addressing their needs … So we just ignore 90 per cent of women across the country?” [By adopting the liberal childcare plan]

While the Liberal press release titled “Rona Ambrose Wrong on Child Care Plan” states:

According to Statistics Canada, fully 84 per cent of families have parents who are both in the workforce and 70 per cent of women with children under the age of six are employed

So who is right? Seems to me the most current census would have some answers.

However I cannot find any of this info in a quick glance on the StatsCan 2001 Census Data Website. Guess this one can be chalked up to Spin… For now. I have a hard time believing that either suggestion would simply ignore 90% of the women in Canada or help over 70% of them.

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