Both the provincial and federal governments have announced plans to give taxpayers back some of their hard-won lucre in moves that, are hard not to see through the lens of ballot box bribes. Both levels of government are expected to see elections in the coming year.
Premier Doug Ford was first out of the election bribe gate when he announced that sometime in the spring of 2025, he would be sending $200 to all eligible Ontarians who filed a 2023 tax return—with a bump up of $200 for each child under 18. Not to be sneezed at, an “eligible” family of five will haul in a cool $1,000.
Not to be outdone, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has suggested his government will be providing a GST holiday on a wide variety of goods and services through the Christmas season and into the commercial doldrums of the early part of the new year, as well as ponying up a tax-free $250 Working Canadians Rebate. The latter is far from being a sure thing, however, as the NDP have demanded the rebate be extended beyond working Canadians to include seniors. The rebate would have gone to an estimated 18.7 million Canadians who filed their 2023 tax return by December 31, 2024 (along with a few other filing caveats).
While who wouldn’t like a nice little boost in the old bank account in these trying economic times, this current bit of politically motivated chicanery begs a number of questions about our provincial and federal budgets—both of which are currently wallowing in red ink, despite their rising inflation-induced revenue.
Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has called the Liberal rebate “inflation inducing,” as might be expected—after all, everything bad under the sun is “Trudeau’s fault.” Oddly, he did not issue such a statement when his fellow traveller, Ontario Progressive Conservatives, first entered the rebate lists. Ah poly ticks—it’s a sticky wicket at best.
Which brings us to the big elephants in the room—and there are many bumbling about in that herd.
Let’s pick on Premier Ford first—after all, he was the first to set foot on the path (yes it’s a Pink Floyd reference). Premier Ford famously promised to end hallway medicine, yet under his watch, waiting lists continue to rise unabated and it is more the rule than the exception that heart patients waiting for lifesaving surgery must languish in recovery rooms waiting for a bed—let alone their actual surgery. That list goes on and on in just about every category of provincial jurisdiction that comes to mind—well, with the exception of southern Ontario highways and booze.
As for Prime Minister Trudeau, while we don’t accept that everything bad is “Trudeau’s fault,” the aforementioned health issues first and foremost being a provincial bailiwick, in our current global atmosphere the dismal state of our defence spending envelope comes easily to mind—as does the issue of overenthusiastic immigration. Far too little is being done to rein in the federal deficit. That being said, the federal government has a vital role to play in building our national infrastructure—which, like our cousins to the south, is starting to crumble from too long a neglect.
While many of the issues facing Ontarians fall well within the purview of the province, such as health, housing as well as provincial and municipal infrastructure—federal transfers to help deal with these crises would be more than welcome by all and sundry.
Apparently, potential short-term political gain trumps any other consideration.
Neither of our benighted leaders seem to be able to set their sights on long-term planning and sustainability, being instead focussed on short term gain. Little wonder that Canadians, like their counterparts in nearly all Western democracies, are losing faith in their institutions. While some of that disillusionment is being goaded along by the autocratic enemies of democracy, that interference is hardly needed given the number of self-goals our leaders seem to be bent on making.
There are so many areas where the billions of dollars that these “rebates” will cost would be better applied there simply isn’t enough room to list them all in this editorial. But among them would definitely be the current opioid crisis that is taking down Canadians on a scale usually not seen outside of global conflicts.
Sadly, changes in the current leadership will not likely solve any of these issues as our challenges lie, not in those leaders themselves, but in their reaction to the systemic shortfalls of our political system and the lack of attention and civic education of our electorate.
The problem, at the end of the day, is us.
