Quote:
Originally Posted by OUIR@random
I don't know why people are blaming Harper or the Conservatives, this has nothing to do with them. Money will not just appear because Harper is ousted.  North Americans will have to learn to live below our means but within our needs, but most people around here don't, so how can we expect our government to do the same...
In any event, time to spend, spend, spend is over, I don't think any new government will ever go back to the spending mode of the past. At all government levels, things have changed forever. |
Overall, I agree with you. I have a point of difference, however, since I believe the Conservatives are to blame for on what they've spent their stimulus. Infrastructure to modernise Canada's cities would have been a better investment for creating economic growth than a series of hockey rinks, or even 'events' and 'convention' centres.
In Halifax, for instance, an investment in light rail transit and bus expansion would have been a smarter business decision than a convention centre that may or may not be successful in the near future (I agree with MonctonRad's skepticism about the Nova Centre). Public transit is absolutely needed
now -- and in the short-term it creates an impressive number of jobs; and in the long-term it opens up development possibilities along the LRT line (transit oriented development), which often implies more high-rise buildings (and hence, even more jobs).
Increasingly, young people are not wanting/not able to purchase cars. Cities must improve public transit.
Government spending is an essential part to economic growth, since public spending deals with the success of the general consumer (which supports capitalism, broadly) while private companies focus on their own immediate profts even at the sacrifice of the consumer's finances, so government spending does need to continue. We simply have to prioritise our spending on smart growth -- growth that doesn't further add to our numerous forms of debt -- growth that will actually produce a financial return on its investment.
Any municipality that currently isn't seriously committing to inward urbanism is going to be struggling in subsequent decades. Even oil-rich Alberta is having debt issues from too much urban sprawl and rural growth -- all of which must be subsidised.