Friday, January 7, 2011

Good News for Canada, Bad News for Liberals

The top priority for Canadians right now is jobs and the economy and that is logical. Well there was good news last month,even though the economy remains shaky and fragile, 22,000 more Canadians went back to work last month. That's an increase in jobs for the last three months in row and our unemployment rate held steady at 7.6%.  In fact the job creation was better than expected which is good news for Canada and bad news for Liberals.
OTTAWA — Canada's job market performed somewhat better than expected last month, with gains concentrated in full-time, private-sector employment, in industrial sectors and for those younger than 25.
There were 22,000 additional people working in Canada last month, Statistics Canada said Friday. That slightly exceeded economists' expectations for gains of 20,000.
Most experts anticipated a surge in people looking for work would cause the unemployment rate to rise to 7.7 per cent, but it remained steady at 7.6 per cent.
 The corporate tax cuts have just kicked in which should provide even more jobs which will help plus the new Minister of State for Finance,Ted Menzies( who is my MP by the way) announced the other day funding to help create about 3500 summer jobs for students.

When people are working it's good for the economy but the Liberals apparently don't agree.They say they will freeze corporate tax cuts and spend the money on big government social welfare programs. I don't see how that will create jobs. Infact John Ivison points out that a stronger economy actually weakens the Liberalsbecause the lower corporate tax rates are working.
It must all make for grim reading for the Liberals, who are keen to freeze corporate tax rates. When he unveiled his plan to cancel the planned $6-billion in corporate tax cuts last March, Michael Ignatieff pledged to "create fiscal room to realize some dreams" -- that is, finance his own spending plans such as the $1-billion home-care support package.
Even the Americans are noticing.
Now, instead of expanding Canada's welfare state, the conservative government led by Mr. Harper is intent upon building the nation's global competitiveness. Our friends in the Great White North cut their corporate tax rate to 16.5 percent on Jan. 1 and will see it drop to 15 percent next year. That compares to the current U.S.Canada the lowest corporate tax rate among the G-7 nations and an eye-popping advantage for businesses wondering whether to locate on the U.S. or Canadian side of the border.
This indeed is bad new for the Liberals as they were hoping the Canadian economy would just keep spiraling down, down,down and the public would turn on the Conservative government and they would swoop in and take reins of power.  It hasn't turned out that way.  With every piece of good news like this one today, Iffy and the Libs will have a hard time convincing Canadians they are the right ones to create jobs and prosperity. 
The PM and his team have done a good job handling the economy and the public has no appetite to "kick the bums out."