SEAN SMITH: Don’t blow sunshine up my backside; how do you plan to make huge cuts to taxes and still pay for all the things you want to pay for?
The challenge isn’t going to be winning the election, it’s going to be making sure that Canadians don’t regret who they vote for in the election.
I am not buying the BS from the Opposition or the some of the Media, but I am concerned that there seems to still be too much focus on finger pointing, sloganeering, and trying to bring down the government through a non-confidence vote, rather than the building a substantive plan to get the country back on a positive path.
This seepage of US Republican style politicking is not a good look for those of us Small 'c' conservatives.
Regarding that, a friend said to me, "The plan is there" ... however he then asked ... "But is anyone seeking it out?"
I am wondering if there is a plan though.
I have spoken to a number of Conservative Party of Canada candidates about Veterans issues, for example, and still get the sloganeering answers and the “When we are in power” lines.
I am a card-carrying Conservative. You don’t need to blow sunshine up my backside, so tell me what the plan is to support Vets, because all I hear is “We are going to do things different from the Liberals”.
How do you plan to make huge cuts to taxes and still pay for all the things you want to pay for?
Just the revamping of the military is going to be a huge expenditure. If you stop sending money to Ukraine, you had better be prepared to support NATO.
And here are other examples of where the money meets the road.
Northern Development:
"We support strategic investments in nation-building: power, communication, defense, and transportation infrastructure and scientific research and technological innovation to enable Northern solutions to employment, education, health and social challenges." ALL of this costs money and NONE of the Territories have the financial ability to do any of it on their own. Just the transport infrastructure, alone, is an investment of several billion dollars ... so what will we sacrifice in cuts to make any of that happen?
Arctic Sovereignty:
This comes down to a National Defence plan and the willingness of the Canadian Government to re-establish a military presence and foothold in the north. Again, infrastructure money is going to be huge to accomplish this, because it is about more than icebreakers.
Fisheries:
Putting aside things like trade agreements and market development, the need to basically rebuild the Coast Guard to ensure that there are no foreign infringements on our resource territory and that our citizens are not abusing the rules and regulations around harvesting and marine resources, is yet another massive investment.....and our Navy cannot take up that torch.
Immigration:
Nothing more to say here. Cleaning up the free-for-all that has been in place for the last few years will take huge amounts of cash.
RCMP:
Understaffed, overworked, poorly led, hamstrung by a flawed justice system, and in DIRE need of a top-to-bottom overhaul to get it away from the need of constant over-watch because of poor leadership and underfunded training (Recruit Depot in Regina, alone, is in SERIOUS need of repairs and upgrading).
National Defence will take decades to fix. DECADES. Unless we are willing to rebuild our industrial capabilities internally, we will be purchasing the assets for war and defence from other countries ... and that investment is EASILY 10 to 20 times what we are currently spending. And the FIRST thing we have to do is the ONE thing we do not want to do, but have to; pull out of all foreign commitments to focus money and personnel on the rebuilding of our Canadian Armed Forces.
You can accomplish savings on better government financial management, implementing austerity measures, and eliminating non-essential program expenditures. Rather than "axing the tax", make better use of it. Make it the revenue-neutral tax that it was supposed to be and invest it into the infrastructure and development that it was supposed to be invested in.
Perhaps it is naive, but I REALLY want to see a party put the country before their own personal power, and layout an entire plan. If their government runs with it, it was still their plan and the country benefits.
Right now, all I am seeing is “I want power”, and the country comes second.
Sean Smith is a 15-year Canadian Armed Forces Veteran (with UN and NATO service) and is in the Royal Canadian Air Force Reserves (CIC) working with the Cadets Canada program. He is the Business Development Specialist for a Vancouver Island based Security company and has been in the Security Industry for over 16 years. A born and raised British Columbian, Sean is married and has 2 grown sons.
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