Pretty good so far. He got his geography right. He then went on to say that Canada is fiscally well positioned to "weather the storm" of an American recession. That is a good positive statement meant to impart confidence. Hear, hear, Jimmy.Then the wheels fell off.
Jimmy pledged that he will deliver a balanced budget. Oops. Many Canadians, especially Ontarians, will remember that Jimmy used the same words during a provincial election when he was Minister of Finance for Ontario. Unfortunately Jimmy's idea of a balance budget differed from eveyone else. He left Ontario with a "balanced" $5 billion deficit.
The current Liberal government in Ontario has eliminated that deficit, delivered REAL balanced budgets and started the uploading of services from the cities that Jimmy downloaded while balancing his budgets.
So does Jimmy applaud the government of Ontario? Nope. Not his style. He has carried out a relentless attack on Ontario over corporate taxes. Alberta, which is rolling in cash has reduced its corporate tax rate. So has Manitoba and New Brunswick and many other provinces. Ontario is the lone hold-out. Fair enough, but let's look at the facts behind the rhetoric.
Question? What do all provinces (except Alberta), who have lowered their corporate tax rates have in common?
Answer? Equalization payments which distributes funds gleaned from the only two "Have " provinces, Alberta and Ontario, to the "Have-nots", which is the rest of the provinces.
Is it safe to assume that, if Equalization did not exist, "Have not" provinces would not be able to reduce tax rates and that Ontario could have? I think so.
So Jimmy is saying to US lawyers and investors, over shrimp and Johnny Walker Blue at the NYYC, that Canada is a great place to invest. I wonder if he is also reiterating his off-mentioned slam that Ontario is the last place in Canada he would invest?
The Hon. James Flaherty, Minister of self-promotion and slight-of-hand.
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