The Good News - O'Toole would deregulate airlines and telecoms...but not milk! (Bad News - last time I checked we don't all eat airplane tickets and cellphones)
Also, if he wants to remind people of the importance of balancing the budget, show them the study I read about recently that found that nations with "fiscal rules" preferably statutory (that is, to balance the budget), saw their economic growth go up at both national and regional levels. Also, the work of a Harvard economics prof by the name of Belina (I think) who found that deficits are best fought by spending cuts and control not taxes and tax increases.
Oh, and in another sop to Quebec, he says that Quebec's proportion in the HOC will never drop no matter what. A rather marginal issue I think even for Quebeckers (and do we really need to make it so that the Bloc is as large as ever no matter how small the PQ gets?) but hardly a democratic spirit shown there.
Fits and starts, for sure, are to be expected in a platform, and the deficit in particular is a big unknown right now. But, even now, just running for leader, he would not provide a timeline for balancing the budget. Worse, I do not hear so far (except for a broad pledge to lower and simplify taxes) any suggestion about how to generate economic growth (aside from the pipelines). HINT: it's going to be difficult to balance the budget without some serious growth.
BTW, if corporate welfare is bad (in both tax expenditure and direct forms) for oilsands, why not for everything else?
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