Jack Mintz: It's a 'weird' and 'wacko' political world out there (2024)

U.S. Democrats have launched an assault on the Republicans based on their new vice-presidential nominee, Tim Walz, having recently called them “weird.” Donald Trump has called the top of the Democratic ticket “crazy Kamala.” Meanwhile, here at home, the Liberals, lacking imagination, are using “weird” to describe the Conservatives, who in turn have described the prime minister as “wacko” and Liberal policies as “crazy.”

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Just last week, much to delight of his Sudbury audience, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, declared: “They (the Liberals) want to ban roads, ban your gas-powered and diesel-powered vehicles, ban plastic straws, but legalizecocaine. So, you can use cocaine as long as it’s through a paper straw,not a plastic straw. You have to use cocaine in an environmentally friendly way. That is how crazy everything has become.”

‘Tis the season, in politics, of name-calling. While calling someone or something a name might attract a few votes here and there, it does little to encourage serious policy discussion. With inflation still above target, high interest rates really beginning to bite, unemployment rising, global stock markets crashing and public debt verging on unmanageable, maybe we should have some civil discussion about the serious — not wacko — policies that we need today.

Mind you, “wacko” is not inappropriate in describing some of the policies on the cards during this current U.S. election. Donald Trump wants a 10 per cent tariff on all imported goods to pay the cost of maintaining his 2017 tax cuts. By inviting retaliation from other countries, however, that could both make inflation worse and bring on an economic slowdown, to boot. Trump also wants to eliminate income tax on tips and social security benefits, which would cost US$1.6 to $1.8 trillion over 10 years. This would either jeopardize his income tax plan or add to an already eye-popping deficit.

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The Democrats, on the other hand, romanticise Shangri-La, which is wacko, too. When the Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, ran in the 2020 primaries, she proposed refundable tax credits for low- and middle-income Americans of US$6000 per couple and US$3000 for a single person, costing US$3 trillion over 10 years. She also proposed: tax credits for residential rental costs in excess of 30 per cent of income; student tuition relief; universal health care; and a multitrillion-dollar green plan, which she would have paid for with a new financial transactions tax and an increase in the corporate income tax back to a growth-killing 35 per cent.

In her current run for president, however, Harris has reversed many of her wackiest policy stances. So far she is sticking to Biden’s program without proposing much herself (except greater criticism of Israel’s policies in Gaza). But Biden’s policies are bad enough. They have included trillions in business subsidies for clean energy, chip manufacturing and infrastructure, which will have the (presumably unintended) effect of making many well-off investors even better off. The now lame-duck president proposes higher taxes on capital gains and corporate and personal income to cover the expansion of new child tax credits, cancer and mental health programs and student debt relief.

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Canada is not immune to wacko policies, too. The Liberals have gone overboard on immigration to grow the economy — pushing up demand for housing, health care, roads and schools, all of which are already in tight supply. The squeeze has juiced inflation and made it hard for young people to buy homes. To reduce housing costs, supply-oriented policies have been introduced, such as incentives for municipalities to reduce zoning restrictions — which is actually the opposite of wacko. On the other hand, raising corporate capital gains taxes won’t help investment, either in housing or anything else.

With a bigger population comes more of the emissions that the Liberals promise to reduce by 40 per cent by 2030 using “weird” clean electricity standards and oil and gas caps that are strongly opposed by producing provinces. The target the Liberals are pushing has EVs accounting for 20 per cent of new cars sold in 2026 — even though 2024 EV sales were only 12.5 per cent of sales, down from 13.2 per cent in 2023.

With Canada’s investment climate dire and real per capita GDP continuing to decline, tax increases on corporations, capital gains and working Canadians are clearly the wrong medicine. Regulatory policy, especially Bill C-69, is wacko, too, at least insofar as it kills resource projects.

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How completely the Conservatives avoid wacko policies of their own is not yet known. As an opposition party, they are — quite sensibly — not making promises until the campaign begins. Of the policies we do know about, the Conservatives propose axing the carbon tax (though just the fuel charge, not the large emitter tax). They have said they will encourage new technologies but we have yet to hear the plan. Poilievre has promised to cut back infrastructure payments to municipalities if they do not meet housing goals, which is no more wacko than the Liberals’ subsidy approach.

On fiscal policy, Poilievre has proposed a “pay-as-go” fiscal anchor whereby new spending would have to be funded by cuts elsewhere. Will the Liberals consider that “wacko”? Poilievre’s proposal to fire the governor of the Bank of Canada for his failed anti-inflation policy probably was wacko but also seems to be off the table now.

Whoever leads the government after the October 2025 election — which can’t come soon enough — seems likely to inherit a bad economy, big public deficits and a moribund private sector. The last thing we need are more of the wacko policies that got us here. What we do need are ideas that will grow Canada’s economy and wealth so we can enjoy the good life. If you can find a party sane enough to propose that, vote for it.

Financial Post

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