Canadian Budget: Some Room For A BIG Cut

We owe it to Canadians to remind them that there’s no point in fretting about a couple of million here or there in terms of philosophical cuts like public finance for Canadian parties or holding off on Constitutional rights to strike if you’re a public servant.

We have a fantastic opportunity ahead of us, but we need to mobilize lobbying efforts and encourage local politicians to act before it’s too late.

As the January 27 date approaches and King Steve might decide to face the majority of Canada in a democratic House of Parliament, we need to rationalize where we should be spending our money in order to revitalize our economy, but to also set a path for our economic future.

Let’s not have a reaction.  Let’s have a plan.

In the past, I’ve argued that we should cut our bloated defense budget, more out of moral conjecture, but today and in the buildup to January 27, I think we need to reconsider the level of expenditure for sheer economic reasons.

To get a sense of the magnitude of commitment that the Harpercrites have made to the Department of Defence, I refer you to this document (warning: PDF) .

Over the next decade or so, the Harper regime will spend at least $500 billion on armaments, guns, tanks, planes and other killing machinery, despite the fact that they ran the election on a promise of leaving Afghanistan in 2011.

If we do not have military commitments after 2011 (although that’s likely going to change because the Americans are telling us we have to stay), then what’s all the money for?  And where does it go?  In most cases, it just gets sucked up by a group of giant international military contractors, few of whom have Canada’s best interest at heart.

So to hell with them.  Let’s keep the money here.

Imagine what $500 billion would do for the Canadian economy right now!

According to Statistics Canada and the 2006 Census, there are 155 communities with a population greater than 25,000 people.  This population represents roughly two-thirds of our entire population.

So, for a simple exercise, let’s put aside a third of $50 billion ($165 billion) for general activities, including national daycare programs, support for the poor, co-op housing, etc.  It should also be used as a general fund for developing new, green industries, such as the construction of solar panels and wind turbines.  To do this, buy GM and Ford, retool their shops for other manufacturing and move forward.

The remaining funds could be spent, on a pro-rata basis across the municipalities of this country to repair infrastructure, build bridges, buy ships, invest in high-speed transit and push this country forward for a change.  Connect from east to west instead of encouraging north-south trade and transactions.  Build bigger ports for shipping to Europe and Asia.

When you spend on a pro-rata basis, Toronto (and area) would get nearly $38 billion, Mississauga would get a little more than $10 billion and a town like London would get about $5.3 billion.

However, before we celebrate and early Christmas (or Hannukkah or Kwanzaa or Univus or whatever it is you celebrate this time of year), we should make sure that we centralize buying authorities.  Too often, big spending programs like this just become giant ATMs for local fiefdoms and borderline-criminal construction and building activity for buddies and friends of local planners.  There has to be a national level of accountability to ensure that municipalities don’t just piss the money away.

How this would be done, I do not know, but I suggest something like a national tender database.  The governments (represented locally, provincially and federally) would have to submit their requests for proposals and they would be worked out through an coalition of jurisdictions.

There should also be a recommended ‘split’ for incoming cash, mainly to reflect the wide array of interests that exist in all towns:

• Balance between arts and sports, infrastructure and public programs
• All towns will have to implement a public recycling program
• Property tax cuts versus spending programs

You get the idea.

In the town where I’m based, we won’t even back loans for a local orchestra to stay alive.  It’s hard to imagine what we could do with a few billion, but I tell you this:  our town would be substantially better off.  They could maybe lower property taxes to more reasonable levels and be competitive to a city like Toronto.  We could get regular garbage pickup.  Maybe a new performing arts centre for the town.

In fact, I feel like I’m watching the lottery ads and "I’m just imagining" all of the possibilities, but cutting (no … eliminating) the bloated and massive expenditure plan for the Department of Defence would set Canada in the proper direction.  For a change.

The only difference is that this isn’t fantasy.  It’s something that can be done immediately so that we can have immediate impact.

As an FYI, here’s the full list of approximate allocations that would result from shifting $500 billion from Defence to general purpose.  Use these numbers and contact your local politician to get them salivating at the sheer volume of impact they could have with real, in-the-black finances to back them up.  Appeal to their basic sense of community, but also their intent to make an impact like they never could before while planning how to split pennies between equally important projects.

Lobby hard, though.  We’re running out of time before the January 27 delivery date and there’s a very solid likelihood that it’ll be a bust before it hits the floor.