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Originally Posted by Doug
It’s tough to campaign on cut backs so the UCP if elected will likely follow the tried and true path of claiming that previous administration covered up dire provincial finances, necessitating restraint.
The corporate tax cut if it happens will likely increase revenue. The economy is so poor right now that corporate taxes aren’t bringing in much revenue. The NDP’s tax increase from 10% to 12% was accompanied by significantly less revenue. How much of that was released to the economic downturn is impossible to quantify. The corporate tax cut could also be partially funded by reducing the NDP’s corporate welfare giveaways. No government has a good track record in picking corporate winners.
An MLA can keep personal views personal without tainting their actions as a legislator. Kenney’s legislative record has not been socially conservative. If an MP were to be up to their eyeballs in personal debt, should that preclude them from legislating economic issues? NDP candidate Anne McGrath ran for the Communist Party in the 1980’s. Does that mean that Notley supports sending gays to the gulag?
The debate over GSA’s is a red herring. Kenney says he wants to change parental notification rules back to how they were pre-NDP, which would align with other provinces. Was Kathleen Wynne anti-LBGQ in supporting the same policy as Kenney? Regardless, Kenney won’t act. This is nothing more than a get out the vote measure to SoCons. Notley is the one who politicized GSA’s in the first place.
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So essentially you are relying on Kenney lying and not doing what he says when in power? That's fair, he is a politician so it's a guarantee he will not live up to his promises, but I expect it won't be in the way they want. Given that even on paper his party's policies are worse for the province's finances, I'm not buying the notion that the province will be in better shape after 4 years with him.
No one anywhere believes that cutting corporate taxes increase revenue anymore - not even US Republicans are spinning that. That is especially true when corporate taxes are already low, as they are in Alberta. While it probably will increase investment a little, it won't be enough to make up the tax shortfall, so we will either have to live with increased debt, increased taxes, or cut public spending even more than we had to - on top of the lost revenue from scrapping the carbon tax. How is that responsible?
To be honest, I know I bring it up but I too don't care too much about social issues normally. But Kenney's actions really do speak to his character - walking out on the abortion protest vote was inexcusable cowardice, and too his refusal to apologize for past actions etc. Most politicians are able to separate their personal views from their political actions, but Kenney is incapable of this, and that is scary.