National Affairs
Precious few concrete examples' given
Claire Hoy
IMacKenzie who said: "The promises of yesterday are the taxes of today." Which brings us, of course, to the current spat between the federal Conservatives and Liberals about just how much Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's serial promises would cost Canadians should they be foolish enough to elect him to the top job.

On the one hand, the Liberals claim they would bring in a "balanced budget. How would they do this? Well, according to Liberal finance critic John McCallum, a one-time chief economist for the Royal Bank of Canada, "We would phase our plans so as never to go into deficit."

The Tories, however, issued a 65-page report on the weekend entitled "In Search of Priorities," in which they claim that meeting the Liberal promises would plunge the country $62.5 billion deeper into debt over the next four years. But that, of course, is based on the rather sticky notion that, if elected, Dion would actually live up to his promises.

But even if he only instituted a portion of the things he has pledged to bring in, the rather obvious truth - routinely ignored by politicians and much of the media - is that when government spends, they're spending our money. And when they raise the money that they spend, the bulk of it comes from - tada! - taxes. Industry Minister Jim Prentice claims that Dion "has a spending problem. Ever since he became leader of the Liberal party, and indeed even before, he has been criss-crossing the country, making spending commitment after spending commitment, promising tax dollars to special interest after special interest, writing IOU after IOU.

"There's a price tag involved when you commit to new government spending each time you stand at a podium, give an interview or issue a press release," said Prentice. "Canadians deserve to know this price tag. After all, it's their money." For his part, McCallum characterized the Tory report as "a $62-billion lie ... I've never seen such a shoddy, inaccurate, let alone dishonest document."

Really? It's not hard to accept the notion that the Tories likely put some extra spin on the Liberal promises, but to hear McCallum tell it, the whole thing is a "lie." Does that mean the Liberals haven't promised any spending initiatives at all? And beyond the predictable partisan political rhetoric, McCallum offers precious few concrete examples of where the Tories numbers are wrong and/or grossly exaggerated.

Dion, for example, has promised to implement the Kelowna Accord for Aboriginals and, by general agreement, that carries with it a $5.1 billion price tag over the next five years. No argument there with the Tory numbers unless, of course, Dion has no intention of honoring his promise.

Dion also promised a national child-care program, which the Tories say would cost $5 billion over five years (which seems rather low to me), but McCallum jumped on that, claiming the Tories were "double counting" by assuming the Liberals would try to eradicate all child poverty in their first year in power. Actually the Tory report doesn't assume that at all. They give a fiveyear cost, not one year. What is McCallum talking about?

Dion also promised - time and again - to honor the discredited Kyoto Protocol. That comes with a $10.9 billion price tag over four years. Is McCallum denying that too? Then again, Dion signed the Kyoto Protocol originally when he was in the Liberal cabinet, only to ignore it completely. Perhaps he plans to follow the same strategy should he ever get back into government again.

The Tories list 86 specific promises that Dion has made. All of them are on the public record, so it wouldn't be difficult for McCallum to back his claim that the list is all "lies," except, of course, for the small point that they aren't lies (unless Dion is lying about his intentions, that is). Prentice challenged the Liberals to "come clean" and tell the taxpayers how much their promises would cost.

As a former banker, McCallum can't be used to having to explain his spending promises to the public, but he does say that come the election - which may not be that far away - the Liberals will tell the taxpayers what's in store for them.

We can hardly wait.