Post Election thoughts

Thankfully the election is over and I can stop seeing smarmy political faces interrupting Property Brothers. Now it's time to get to work. There were good ideas floated by all the parties. Can the parties work together or are they too concerned about their base?

This article about building really got me thinking about some things I hope to see come out of the election. The provinces in Canada have a lot of freedom to implement policy and program and the Federal government does not financially penalize provincial governments for not complying with Federal law. For instance - patients may have to travel far (even out of province) for care yet funds are not withheld from provinces that don't provide easy access. Education, extraction royalties and environmental standards for lakes and rivers are also set by provinces. So there are many things provinces can do to pull together if they wanted to. The article talks about provincial barriers and equalization.

Remove barriers to trade and job mobility between provinces
When I moved to Alberta over 30 years ago, a big thing was getting "Alberta Experience" in order to qualify for a job - even if you had completed training at an accredited institution. Linemen, electricians, plumbers were restricted and professionals had to certify in multiple provinces. Living on the AB/SK border really brings home the ridiculousness of these barriers. We are restricted in how much we can purchase in one province and bring it home. Professionals (teachers/doctors, nurses, journeymen) have to qualify in both provinces to be able to work close to where they live. This is something where Alberta and Saskatchewan could lead the way in removing barriers and growing jobs.

Reset the equalization program. The Conservative Government (which included Kenney) did an assessment of the equalization program then the process became law in the 2019 budget with a re-assessment date of 2024. There was a $60/person limit implemented in 1986! Things have certainly changed - a $60 basket of goods would now cost over $500. Is budgeting $500/person too much for insurance services? I don't think so especially with the armed forces being deployed at least annually to deal with weather related states of emergency.

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What I'd like to see considered?

CPC ideas - Fines for ethics violations. I doubt it will matter since there have been several fines associated with Kenney's election process and the voters don't seem to notice or care. A tax credit to offset maternity benefits would be awesome; most parental leave bridges two earning years so you can end up getting taxed a lot. Closing business tax loopholes seems weird for a business buddy party to suggest but is a great idea. it would be awesome if businesses had to apply for tax breaks just like researchers have to apply for operating funds. I wouldn't even take away points for not being able to survive our capitalist system without a corporate handout.

NDP ideas - expanding health-care system to include  more comprehensive services including dental, eye car hearing and pharma-care and child care. Roll back corporate taxes to 2010 levels. Adding 1% increase for the $20mil+ crowd involves adding another tax bracket. I think it would be easier to just tax investment income as if it was earned income instead of a using a capital gains system but maybe not.

Green Party ideas - Work with Indigenous leadership towards their sovereignty. Many of their green initiative like promoting electric vehicles affordable (and exempt from federal sales tax) and expand charging stations; energy efficiency retrofit of residential, commercial and institutional buildings; electric rail systems. Actually just read the whole thing...I disagree with pipeline kibosh BUT implementing their policies would rapidly reduce the need for additional pipelines and move to a circular economy.

People say coalition governments don't last but to me there is no reason why the Liberal, NDP, Green coalition couldn't as the core values are similar enough that there can be compromise on implementing while creating a robust climate plan. There doesn't have to be coalitions; just thorough consideration when policy writing and presenting. Federal carbon levies could provide for innovation in energy, funds for zero emission renovations, and retraining via the NRC and EI training services - this is not funding to be transferred to provinces for administration.

My pie in the sky wish - Jagmeet Singh continues to show leadership and become either the official opposition to liberal minority or minority leader in the next election.

Finally - every politician does things you don't like, it's which ones matter to you. In our family it was a huge deal for one member that Scheer didn't explicitly state his dual citizenship and/or show work towards renouncing US citizenship. For another it was Scheer inflating his resume by assuming the title of Broker. Trudeau's dressing up and selfies was super irritating to both of us. One of us thinks he is an out of touch rich white guy (actually both of us) but one of us thinks he does pretty good by having worked in the public school system and appointing knowledgeable people.