Canadians know deep in their bones that our country is in trouble and our economy is sick. We also know that we have to fix things because time is quickly running out.
The national debt is a case in point. If we don’t tackle this problem now, the buildup of debt and the interest that keeps piling on top of it will drastically affect future generations, who will be stuck with the bill.
And that’s not the only economic problem we face. The gap between the wealthy and the workers is growing larger and larger. Many Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque. And it’s become increasingly difficult for young Canadians to find good-paying jobs or afford to buy a home.
You would think the alarm bells would be ringing in Ottawa, and politicians of all stripes would be rushing forward with some solutions. But there are no meaningful initiatives to wrestle down the debt or slash government overhead or modernize our convoluted and unfair tax system.
The fact is that our economic productivity and R&D spending have been slowly deteriorating. These are two big warning signs of future economic decline. Last month, TD Bank published an economic report that detailed how Canada’s living standards has not kept pace with our peer countries since the 1980s.
No country can escape the reality that if the economy doesn’t function, everything else will begin to fall apart. Without a strong economy, there will be less money for health care and the arts, less money for social assistance and pensions, and there will be fewer businesses and jobs. When this happens, it’s the poor and the unskilled, as well as the sick and the fragile, who will suffer the most.
There are many people who want to change course, but they feel trapped in the current system, including a lot of elected politicians who are just as frustrated and hungry for change as the voters they represent.
But because they’re stuck in a system where it’s hard to bring about change and where new ideas are instantly met with barbed arrows, these politicians are reluctant to bring forward the policies and programs our country desperately requires.
That’s why we need a groundswell of concerned citizens in every province across Canada to rise up and push for action to fix our country. In other words, we need a new national citizens coalition comprised of concerned Canadians from all walks of life who are willing to put aside political differences and fight for our future.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to the economy. If we don’t get that right, nothing else will matter.
Most Canadians share the same goals and dreams: they want the opportunity to make a good living or run their own business without government always getting in the way; they want their children to be healthy and happy; and they want a fair shake when it comes to their wages and the taxes they pay to the government.
That’s why I believe a majority of Canadians would agree with the following common-sense solutions to create a healthier and more prosperous country:
- reduce our national debt by five per cent per year for 20 years so that we will be debt-free within two decades;
- curtail our ballooning bureaucracy by cutting government overhead by five per cent a year over the next 10 years;
- simplify our tax system by making it straightforward and fair, with no more loopholes or deductions for the rich or for special interests;
- give workers a piece of the action in their places of employment by making companies with more than 300 employees share 20 per cent of their annual profits;
- unshackle Canada’s small businesses by slashing red tape and eliminating the business income tax;
- give young Canadians a greater chance to learn skilled trades; and
- require schools to provide Canadian students with organic meals and hands-on learning about nutrition and growing food.
We can only bring about these changes by assembling a powerful national coalition of concerned citizens from coast to coast. An organized citizens coalition like this would have the clout to make our elected officials sit up and take action.
We could halt the growth of Canada’s ballooning debt, bring back balanced budgets, cut the fat out of government spending, streamline regulations, simplify our tax system, introduce profit sharing for millions of hard-working Canadians and unleash our country’s entrepreneurs and small business owners.
That’s a cause worth joining. That’s a cause worth fighting for.