Blah, Blah, Blah... Spend my money why don't yah?

Dion's latest is a classic:

OTTAWA — A Liberal government would spend any windfall surpluses beyond $3-billion on fixing Canada's failing infrastructure, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion promised Friday.

Mr. Dion's windfalls-for-potholes pledge is a direct attack on the Conservative government's refusal to fork out more cash to fix what Canadian mayors have described as an infrastructure crisis.

The promise also mirrors former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien's 1993 campaign pledge to create "jobs, jobs, jobs" through infrastructure spending.

”Canada is facing an aging population. We will not pass onto our children crumbling bridges, leaky water pipes and insufficient public transit,” Mr. Dion told a Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting in Ottawa.

So basically, spend spend spend and the economy will explode with growth. The only problem with that concept is that the state is not a source of wealth - it's a leach at best, a destructive helluva bear at worst.

It isn't the federal government's role to fix pot holes. The BNA act of 1867 was pretty specific on that point.

Municipalities should suck it up, and make the cutbacks they need to make sure the world keeps on spinning and the roads keep on getting plowed.

And if that isn't enough, they should consider privatization of services. Toll roads are an obvious choice that is environmentally beneficial and are way overdue in this country.

3 comments:

  1. Since the ultimate cause of crumbling infrastructure is irresponsible city councils which choose to build non economic convention centers, arenas or dabble in "downtown redevelopment" rather than attend to their jurisdictional responsibilities, the blame needs to be affixed there as well.

    Pumping Federal or Provincial monies into these sinkholes without very tight rules of accountability will not solve the problem, only expand it.

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  2. Ok everyone stop paying your credit cards, stop paying your water bill, stop paying your car payments, stop paying down the debt on your house. Because Dion says we have more money lets spend it!


    Another P.E.T. spend spend spend and let the people of future year pay for it.

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  3. He's back!!!

    *does happy dance*

    <(^o^<) <(^_^)> (>^o^)>

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