On Sunday I decried that the election so far had focused on political foibles, not policy. Three days later, it’s clear that the politicians have been reading the This blog.
Yesterday Layton pledged $100 million in skills training; Dion said he’d pay $900 million over four years in pharmacare; Harper thought that self employed workers should get parental benefits; and today the Green Party announced its entire policy platform. Their pledges include income splitting at tax time for couples and restoring the GST to 6 percent in order to fund city infrastructure needs.
Cynics will decry the the announcements as political pandering. I agree that it’s more than a coincidence that politicians are giving hundreds of millions of dollars away at election time. But some of the ideas offered are progressive; they get me damn near excited about voting on October 14th.
They should do the same for you. If they don’t, go out and make sure that there’s something you’re voting for. A politician’s ear is never so open as during a candidate race.