This blog is valued at up to 3 marks towards your first quiz. That is, if your response is thoughtful and relevant, you will receive up to 3 marks, which I will add to your current quiz #1 mark. You will have until Sunday midnight - May 1st to respond to this blog.
As you all know, the federal election is set for May 2nd. So what issues are most important to you? Review the platforms for the various parties and think about what is written in terms of the effect on the Canadian economy. A strong Canadian economy will result in more jobs for you when you graduate. Which party do you believe will be the most successful at creating a strong Canadian economy? How does this party propose to create a better economy for you and I?
Your response should be no more than about 300 words.
Have fun! (BTW - I only put the Bloc website in for interest sake - we can't actually vote for them!)
Conservative Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
New Democractic Party of Canada
Green Party of Canada
Communist Party of Canada
Bloc Quebecois
The most important issue to me is to help boost up our Canadian economy again. I remember about 2-3 years ago I could hand out 10 resumes and get 9 call backs. Were we were getting Ralph Bucks and Calgary’s economy (and Canada’s) was booming like crazy! Well it doesn’t have to be really high in inflation for me to be happy, but I toned down version of it because too much causes a ton of problems (like business going out of business because there isn’t enough people to employ and people would switch jobs in a heartbeat). These days it’s so difficult to find a convenience store job let alone a job that relates to my schooling. The Conservatives plan to provide Canadians with a prudent low-tax plan to try to protect and create jobs after we can bring our economy out of recession. But they are also trying to create jobs now. The Economic Action Plan was a great idea the Conservatives came up with to help create jobs now. Its main goal is to try and get people back to work by providing a number of sources to get them there (schooling, training, etc.) and to help our economy in the long run. I want to see the job market go up and the Conservatives plan on making life easier for Canadian businesses (tax cuts, etc.). The businesses will have more money to expand, thus being able to hire more employees. They also want to eliminate our deficit and this will be done by controlling our spending. I will vote for the Conservatives because they seem to really care about trying to help create jobs for us now and in our future (stabilize our economy).
ReplyDeleteIt’s not a matter of what components each party is proposing to change or implement, it’s a matter of how they plan on doing it and what they see as priority. They all seem to want the same major changes, but somehow feel the need to fight with each other on it; all except for the Green Party. Out of all four platforms that I researched and read through, the Green Party was the only one to not full out ‘dis’ or call out an opposing party. Harper on the other hand, has it out for Ignatieff’s ‘coalition’ and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteOne major issue being addressed is the country’s crime rate. I believe the Green Party will be the most proactive at reducing our crime rate. They have proposed to promote better programs in youth activity and early childhood education. They would be eliminating the issue of children growing up in a bad environment, thus becoming part of a gang or turning to drugs and violence. Their thought is, if the problem is cut off at the source then there won’t be a need to increase funds for prisons, as Harper has projected. Improving our economy should be about prevention, not reaction.
Another major issue is taxes. Harper is suggesting major tax cuts. Tax cuts aren’t necessarily a good thing. If I know my money is going to the right places, I don’t have a problem with paying a little more to see things that I believe need to get done, get done. There is too much talk and not enough do.
An interesting point on the Green Party is they are the only opposition to have actually tabled their deficit reduction plan with the Parliamentary budget office to make sure their numbers add up and that their approach makes sense. It’s reasons like this that make me want to vote Green, and not because it’s my favourite colour. Elizabeth May is showing us exactly what they intend on doing with the money and where it’s all going to come from. I believe with the Green Party in power, the economy will be stable and strong, perfect for starting a career once I graduate.
As an immigrant to Canada, it is interesting to watch the various political parties rally at different platforms to generate votes.
ReplyDeleteLiberal and NDP promised a corporate tax hike to increase revenue in order to cut the deficit. They don’t see that this theme doesn’t go down with voters very well. |Raising tax on business contributes more revenue for |Government, but less for firms. This may work in short term but in long run, it means job layoffs and large deficits which Canada cannot afford to take on.
US have a 38% corporate tax. Thousands corporations left that country for Ireland and Sweden where the tax rate is about 15%. This severely damaged an already fragile economy and cost the economy to go down faster.
Conservative promised a low tax plan to help corporate to create jobs and retain jobs through training and trade. It also mentioned reducing taxes on hard-working Canadian families. While cutting tax may hurt government’s revenue, lower tax rate encourages investment from businesses which means more economic activities and employment opportunities for Canadians.
I personally favour Conservative’s policy. However, coming from a stable political country where the government does a fantastic job to build a ‘clean’ political party, I have my reservation about the Harper reputation. After all, it is his contempt of Parliament that sends millions to the polls for the third time in five years!
When it comes to the federal election there is a lot of smoke and mirror tactics by various parties, this may prove to be entertaining however this takes the spotlight away from the real issues at hand that is effecting Canadian Citizens. I truly believe that The New Democratic Party otherwise known as the NDP would benefit Canadians the most in terms of health care, education and the over all economy/new jobs. My reasons for my belief are based on watching the Liberal party in power for many years along with the Progressive Conservatives. These are the two main parties that have held control over our government for many years. I feel it is a time for change and we as Canadians need to vote and have our voices heard, far too often Progressive Conservative candidates and Liberal members are under the notion that they always have a 50% chance of being elected and voted into parliament. This narrow minded thinking needs to stop immediately, there needs to be more parity in terms of power and voter support for parties. I have reviewed all three parties’ platforms, and even though the Liberal party and Conservative parties have promised wonderful things I have a hard time believing it. These are the same promises we hear every year around election time, and more often than not promises are made but broken in the long run or become watered-down and ineffective. As a student who is nearly completed school I need a government that is willing and able to help not only me but every soon to be graduate across the county to have a positive impact on society without massive debts and costs which make it nearly impossible to reach our full potential.
ReplyDeleteThe most important issue to me is the Canadian economy remains stable in the future. I recall about last 3 or 4 years ago, the economic boom, especial in Calgary; this created an extreme demand for employees in most industry. Many employers offered positions requesting no work experience and provided training, and still it was difficult to find people to work.
ReplyDeleteThe Conservatives plan to provide Canadians with a low tax plan to help corporate to create jobs and retain jobs through training. It has also been mentioned that a tax reduction may apply for hard-working Canadian families. Lower tax rate encourages businessman to invest in their businesses which means to create more jobs and employment opportunities, so the business will grow and they hire more people. Working people spend money, which help reduces the employment rate. With a conservative majority, this may lead to decreace our deficit. The Conservatives plan on making life easier for Canadian people.
The federal election on May 2nd is approaching. As an Canadian citizen, I should carefully consider and choose a party to vote for which can do a better job for Canada economy
ReplyDeleteFirst, the Communist party of Canada and Bloc Quebecois are out of the scope of my consideration. As I came from China, I knew what the communist party is, and the majority of people ( in China, Former USSR, North Korea, Cuba, etc.)suffered from the government of the communist party. I strongly believe Quebec should stay in Canada, and should not become independent. The Liberal Party of Canada and New Democratic Party of Canada have the common point in their economical policy of high revenue tax in order to cut the deficit. Raising tax on business contributes more revenue for Government, but less for firms. This may not work in long run: many corporations will leave Canada to low tax countries(e.g., in Ireland and Sweden the tax rate is about 15%). This may seriously hurt Canada economy and cost the economy to go down quickly. More job layoffs and large deficits in Canada may occur.
After reviewing the Conservative’s economical policy, I trust the Conservative Party of Canada will do a better job for Canada economy. The Conservative Party has put forward a prudent low-tax plan to create more jobs and bring Canada's economy out of recession earlier. Low tax will attract the business companies to expand and create more jobs, this will make our life easier, also result in more revenue to the government , and eliminate the deficit in the long run.
I will vote for the Conservatives on May 2, 2011
After reading the objective of each party, I feel that the Conservative would be the best option to choose if we want to have a strong economy for Canada future. The Conservative has pin-pointed their objective in low tax plan on corporation and strengthen financial security for the general public; starting from a economist point of view, I usually agree that corporation prosperity bring more stable jobs, it works as the economic cycle show us "When a corporation prosper, they tend to hire more people to expand their business".
ReplyDeleteWhile some argue that the budget decifit of the recent years is a sign of the Conservative weakness in budgeting, I however believe that it is fine to have a decifit during these period of hardship. As we all know, the world economy has been in a massive recession in recent years, In order to improve the economy, decreasing tax cut on corporation is a key; and the lower tax rate has inevitably led the government budget to a decifit.
The conservative has done their part trying to revive the Canadian economy, but the recession is too big for any country to battle it. I doubt that any other party would have done better in the similar situation. Beside, after reading every party's word, I have found other than the Conservative party, none of the other parties "promise" a date when they will overturn the deficit.
The Conservative has stated that they will try to eliminate the deficit in 2014-2015, although they have no guarantee to bring the budget back up, but they sound more optimistic than others when it comes to eliminating the deficit.
Other parties has mentioned about the budget deficit as well, but they only talk about it in the way where it sounds like a total government failure; they were blaming it all on the Conservative tax cut policy, and were only talking about how poor the deficit is. They were all blaming it on the Conservative without mentioning about the global recession, without saying too much about how they will try to overturn the deficit if they get elected. To me, the only explanation is because the other parties don't have a clear plan in helping the deficit, so instead of talking about how their plan on the budget will work, they decide to focus on the Conservative failure.
The Conservative has at least a time goal for reducing the deficit, although it may be an "empty promise", they however seem to be more confident of their future plans on the economy. This is why I decided to choose the Conservative.
Tim Fung from the section M class
I am feeling that the economy in Canada is the most important concern. How to lead Canada to be strong economy? What is plan for? After looking at different policy platforms from these 6 parties, I believe Conservative party will be most successful to lead our economy to be stronger. In Conservative party, the economic action is making the necessary plan to create jobs through trade and low taxes. Under the low-tax plan, business will be able to increase employed opportunities and keep growth; the plan of tax reduction is building and improving living standards and quality for individuals and families. It is better to help me get a job after graduation, and save more money from tax reduction for my family living
ReplyDeleteAs a graduating student and been in a process of looking for a entry level job, I came to know that there is a really few jobs for a newly graduate student. Keeping in mind about the recession and the economy overall in the world I think it is a time for New Democractic Party of Canada. The main reason for my decision is NDP platform for the change in Canada. NDP has put in a lot of effort to realize the problems in Canada and illustrated what have been done in past years and how will we do it as a leader. By providing the corporate tax rate lower than USA will really help the corporate to do business and making new jobs, Their helping of youth by providing a training as this is the generation who one day will be a part of making the economy. Also their concerns about Health service by providing more family doctors and nurses and lowering the cost of medicine. In the last their plan for a Canada to make it a part of world and human rights of people all around the world and also the safety of Canadian by strengthen the defence and hiring police force. As Jack Layton said "You know where I stand. After May 2, I will deliver for you. And I won’t stop until the job’s done." and I think I can trust on NDP and we will see new jobs in coming months.
ReplyDeleteThere are few issues that I would be looking in the party that I will vote for, there are the issues of the economy (government spending for education, schools, scholarships...Etc), more employment, less taxation, lower GST, and lower rate of gas. It’s will provide us Canadian with more affected economy that will use the government lower- taxation for creating a new and secure jobs also trying to avoid global recessions. The party that I believe in that will not only bring good and safe econmomy to us also will keep there promises is the Conservative party. This party does have a five key priorities that do attended to accomplish: Creating Jobs, Supporting families, Elimination the deficit, Making our streets safe, and the last but not list Standing on guard for Canada. Those are some of the thing that the conservative are attending by changing in the economy that will affect us if not directly then in one way or another.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the New Democratic Party of Canada would be the party that will create a better economy for me and for everyone else. The steps that the New Democratic Party are going for are: hire more doctors and nurses, strengthen our pension, kick-start creation, help out family budget, and fix Ottawa for good. I, for one, have much difficulty with making an appointment with doctors. As most people, we have family doctors or someone regular we go to, however, it takes months in advanced to book an appointment. If I feel like I need to see a doctor for something, I would have to wait up to 2 or 3 months before I do get seen and by that time it just does not become necessary. They also want to strengthen up pension which I am all for. Everyone should have a good pension plan and a good retirement plan. Young adults should already should be aware of creating a pension plan because you never know what may happen in the future and it is always good to be prepared. With these two points alone, I feel that they are absolutely important and will benefit me greatly. With that said, I stand behind them as prime minister.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I believe that the Conservative party will be the best party to govern Canada for the next few years. Its election time in Canada and firstly I think we all should vote. The Conservative party has the strongest platform when it comes to building economic stability and growth as it gives me satisfaction that I will get a job once I graduate. The want to create jobs, which in return will help our economy by allowing those people to send money and returning our economy to the high it was before 2006.
ReplyDeleteWe all know how well Canada did during the time of recession because of effective leadership, sound economic plan and strict regulations. I put my trust into Conservatives as they are all for creating and protecting jobs and they promise a better future for me, my family and all Canadians. Supporting families through our Family Tax Cut and more support for seniors and caregivers. And making our streets safe through new laws to protect children and the elderly.
They have shown what issues is Canadian economy is facing with and solutions for each issues that are very understandable and appropriate. First, Canadians need jobs to make money. If people don’t spend money, demand decrease, business close down and lead to economy become worse. Secondly, cut off tax will make people happy and they want to work more and reduce poverty. Children and seniors are 2 targets we need to support. Try to have strong and powerful economic and hopefully the most powerful in North American. With those prospective mentioned above, I believe that conservative platform care a lot of people live standard and how to push up the economy.
After looking at all the party’s platforms the only difference I found: The Liberal and NDP will end up increasing taxes in order to meet the money required to pay for all their promises and the Conservatives are the only party left that has not raised taxes and promises not to do so in the future. As we all know lower taxes means more money left over for businesses to invest (employees and hard assets). This means creation of jobs, increase in GDP and economic growth which makes the world go round. If I just look at the promises the parties are making then I would pick the Conservatives.
ReplyDeleteBut it’s really hard to ignore the past of the two parties that have been in power. The scandals, dishonesty and the abuse of power cannot be overlooked. I do not like any of the parties currently likely to win (the Green party not very likely). The attack ads, not discussing issues (health care) because they would give them a bad image and avoiding questions again and again asked by the media.
I think we need someone new, fresh and straight-forward. Someone who is willing to deal with the issues, not promise everything for everyone to get elected.
Three distinct factors make up a good economy: Stable prices, low unemployment and economic growth. The party that is defines itself in equality I believe to be the communist party. After reading their plan to lower defect and promote stability their focus lies on increasing minimum wage to $16/hour, higher EI and decrease foreign spending. All these factors seem great because it enables consumers and me a higher income. Although it is clear the only way to achieve this is with much higher tax rates. The communist party states the will impose much higher tax rates to corporations and a progressive tax rate for individuals. The huge increase in tax for corporations may cause lower incentive for hiring possibly even cause some layoffs to occur. So although the communist party may have benefits for individual consumers there may be a decrease in jobs.
ReplyDeleteA party offering a potential plan to increase for jobs and benefiting myself and others graduating from SAIT seems to be the NDP party. The NDP make no mention for tax increases for large corporations even suggesting a tax break be given to small businesses in Canada. Another incentive for job increase in Canada is tax breaks for companies who focus their hiring to Canadian citizens. I believe these two factors make the most sense for job increase. There are no high tax increases for large corporations that could cause a hiring freeze or increase in unemployment their plan is to offer tax incentives for those companies who hire in Canada and help stimulate the economy.
So in comparison, the communist party offers benefits for the individual but the NDP party in my opinion has the best incentive for job increase mostly benefiting us graduating students from SAIT.