When considering the spot Canadians are in with out-of-control government spending, political columnist Angelo Persichilli has written a great article in today’s Toronto Star.
It’s politics as usual as deficits mount up
He writes:
“You want to cross a wide, deep river but keep going up and down the shore looking for a bridge that doesn’t exist,” an Italian author wrote about a frightened character who didn’t have the courage to face his problems and make the inevitable jump.
Politicians, in government and in opposition, are like this character. They know the numbers don’t add up and that eventually they will have to cut spending and increase taxes – not just to reduce the debt but to finance vital services that are now in jeopardy.
But politicians prefer to talk about problems in Afghanistan or about domestic issues, such as Helena Guergis’s antics in P.E.I. or Rahim Jaffer in Orangeville.
This nonsense is just fine with the government. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty are happy to talk about Afghanistan and Guergis instead of about how they plan to eliminate the deficit, pay for medicare and protect pensions for baby boomers in a few years. And don’t expect the opposition parties to ask about those issues either: They know the answers, too, but are afraid to tell them to the voters.
Persichilli urges us all to look at the hard facts:
According to Statistics Canada, the federal, provincial and territorial net debt in 2007 was $758.5 billion. Now, after the infusion of more than $100 billion by Ottawa and the provinces to fight the recession, we are well over $800 billion; and that’s only the public direct debt, excluding commitments for Old Age Security and the Canada Pension Plan. Of course, this also excludes our personal debts, such as mortgages and credit cards.
But as bad as this is, it’s going to get worse. According to the Fraser Institute, the ratio of Canadians under 20 to those over 65 was 5.5 to 1 in 1964. In 1995, the ratio dropped to 2.3 to 1, and in 20 years it is going to be 1 to 1. You can imagine the burden we are leaving for our children to sustain our quality of life.
Furthermore, in Ontario it is going to be worse because we already have fewer services than other provinces and a bigger debt to deal with. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has already said that in 12 years 70 per cent of the province’s operating budget will be needed just to sustain medicare. That’s not going to happen because otherwise education and other services would collapse, leaving us without the resources to sustain medicare.
Things must change in Ottawa – and at Queen’s Park. As Persichilli concludes:
The issue in Ottawa is not so much about the problems we face but about who is going to have the courage to help us get to the other side of the river before we all drown.
