Marshall Savings Plan gives Flaherty 6 billion ways to look “brilliant” (for a change?)

Diane Francis called the Marshall Savings Plan “brilliant”.

Hmm? Does Jim Flaherty do brilliant? If not, he still has 6 billion other reasons to implement it in Budget 2010 as that’s how much tax revenue it will generate and protect from foreign takeover, as his income trust tax to date has cost all Canadian taxpayers the loss of $1.5 billion per year in tax revenue from the 51 ($59 billion) in takeovers by foreigners and non taxable entities, or three times the amount of “tax leakage” that Jim Flaherty falsely alleged to exist in the first place. Smart guy? I guess we’ll soon find out, just how smart and/or brilliant he really is? He’s got to stop taking lousy tax advice from people like Dominic D”Alessandro and start learning how to hedge his bets (pun intended) by listening to the people that he professes to represent for a change.

The Marshall Savings Plan is supported by 79.6% of Canadians as determined by a recent Environics Research Poll, with the strongest support coming from Conservatives at 85% support for the MSP in Budget 2010.

Massive deficit, few solutions
By PAUL RUTHERFORD, QMI AGENCY

It's a good thing most Canadians are fixated on the Vancouver Olympics right now.

Otherwise we'd have to think about Canada's horrendous budgetary deficit.

Then along comes Kevin Page and wakes us up in the midst of our Olympic euphoria.

Page, Canada's parliamentary budget chief, is predicting a deficit crisis in Canada as our population ages.

Forget today's deficit. With rising health care and social security costs we're looking at astronomical numbers facing us.

His message? Without a strong plan including immediate spending cuts and massive hikes in taxes, we're in deep doo doo.

The Fiscal Sustainability Report released Thursday by Page says without action now -- not 10 years from now -- the deficit will rise to 100% of GDP by 2050-51 from 33.8% of GDP in 2013-14. And if left unchecked, Canada could be running an annual deficit of four times the size of the economy by 2084-85, the report says.

"We have a structure that's not sustainable and we have to take decisions to change it," Page warned.

We can already hear Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty muttering "so what" under their breath. Thinking long-term in Canadian politics is a no-no. It's for losers.

In 1979, Joe Clark's government was defeated when massive tax hikes were proposed as "short-term pain for long-term gain" as John Crosbie put it. Who can forget that blunder?

That was it for them. Harper's not going there.

"Governments get little credit for solving long-term problems because they're not in office that long, so politically they don't have much incentive to do anything," said Jack Carr, a University of Toronto economist.

And that's the real issue here. Zero incentive. Harper's crew has plunged us into a record deficit. He claims it was a must to beat a crippling recession.

Massive bailouts and cheque-passing photo ops rule Ottawa now.

But tomorrow? Harper doesn't care. He won't be around. He hasn't got a plan and doesn't intend to make one.

Advice for him: Think of tomorrow today.

You'll assure yourself of being remembered for more than proroguing Parliament twice.