Fortunately, for Dion it is unlikely that Dion will have the luxury of worrying about that issue for some time unless he manages to gather up enough courage to actually vote against the Conservatives some time before Xmas! This is from the Star. I suppose Dion feels obliged to prattle on like this because he opposes the GST cut. Maybe he would decide to reduce corporate taxes further that would help the Liberal economy, that is donations to the Liberal party.
Liberals would consider repealing GST cuts: Dion
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 | 1:55 PM ET
CBC News
The federal Liberals would consider rescinding the Conservative government's GST cuts if they come into power in the next election, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said on Wednesday.
Dion told reporters he would open a debate on the idea during an election campaign.
When asked by reporters whether he would reverse the tax cuts, Dion responded: "We will consider that."
Dion made the comments a day after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled a mini-budget that outlined $60 billion in cuts to personal and corporate taxes as well as a one percentage point cut to the GST.
Dion said the money from the two per cent cut to the GST — which includes a one percentage point cut implemented in 2006 — could have been spent in other areas or put into different types of tax cuts.
"That [the proposed GST cut] means $6 billion, $7 billion every year, on an ill-advised choice," Dion said.
Continue Article
"We will not be alone. We know that a lot of people will say it was the wrong decision for Canada and when the next election will come we'll say to Canadians what we'll do."
Hours later, the Liberals abstained from voting on the mini-budget in the House of Commons, ensuring its passage.
The vote was considered a confidence motion that would have triggered an election had it been defeated. Instead, it passed 127 to 76 in the House of Commons. The Liberals remained in their seats while both the Bloc Québécois and NDP voted against it.
Dion said that while he opposes plans for the additional GST cut, he and the Liberals did not bring the government down over the mini-budget because they feel Canadians do not want another election.
Earlier, during question period, as Dion accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of breaking a number of promises, Harper referred to Dion as the "king of abstention" — a reference to the Liberals' decision to abstain on the speech from the throne and now the mini-budget.
He said Dion on Monday had "drawn a line in the sandbox, the line was that he would never tolerate an increase in the GST, and today's he's gonna let one pass.
"Imagine lectures from a guy like that."
Showing posts with label GST cut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GST cut. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Dion: GST cut won't trigger an election.
Dion just looks sicker and sicker. I am sure that Rae and Ignatieff are happy that he continues to swallow Conservative poison pills to discredit him as a person of principle, one of the few things he had going for him. Dion just sounds silly when he says that he is not voting against the budget because Canadians are in no mood for an election. Everyone whose brain is not turned to mush or simply isn't tuned in to political reality at all knows that the real reason is that the Liberals are down in the polls. If the Liberals were at 40 per cent Dion would playing a quite different tune.
GST cut won't trigger an election, Dion says
Canadians still in no mood for trip to polls, Liberal Leader believes, setting bar higher for defeating government
CAMPBELL CLARK
With a report from Steven Chase in Ottawa
October 25, 2007
OTTAWA -- Stéphane Dion took election speculation off the boil yesterday by signalling that he is not likely to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government over a cut to the GST.
There has been speculation that the Tories might transform the government's fall economic statement into a mini-budget that could include the promised second cut to the goods and services tax, which the Liberals have opposed.
Mr. Dion said last week that Canadians do not want an immediate election when he announced that Liberals would abstain in last night's vote on the government's Throne Speech. And he suggested yesterday that he does not expect to trigger an election over the GST cut, either.
"The only thing I want to say about that is if Canadians didn't want an election last week ... I don't really think that they will want an election next week," Mr. Dion told reporters.
Mr. Dion said that cutting another percentage point off the GST is the wrong way to cut taxes, but said his Liberals "will continue to do our role as [the] Official Opposition, explaining why we disagree with the government."
"We want tax cuts for Canadians, but we want tax cuts that will help this country to be more competitive and to be fairer and we have better ideas than another GST tax cut," he said. The Liberal Party prefers income tax cuts.
A two-percentage-point cut to the GST was one of Mr. Harper's marquee election promises in the 2005-06 election campaign. His government cut the tax by one percentage point to 6 per cent last year, and promised to cut the second point later. Some Tories have recently floated the idea that they will go ahead with the second cut this fall.
Mr. Dion's statement yesterday not only indicates that a GST cut alone will not spark a trip to the polls, it sets the bar higher for defeating the minority government this fall on any issue. Mr. Harper has sought to set up a series of confidence-vote showdowns in the House of Commons that force the opposition to decide whether they will defeat the government. He not only prorogued Parliament to deliver a new Throne Speech, but has declared several bills confidence matters - and promised more.
A mini-budget automatically triggers a confidence vote - and because the Liberals have opposed a GST cut, there has been speculation that the Conservatives would include it as a "poison pill" to engineer their own defeat. The economic statement is traditionally limited to an update on Ottawa's financial situation and the latest forecast of its budget balance, or surplus.
Speculation is increasing that the Tories will hold the fall fiscal update earlier than usual, in late October or possibly the week of Nov. 5, when MPs are on a break and the House of Commons is closed. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Tuesday only that the update will take place "within the next few weeks."
The update is usually delivered to the House of Commons finance committee. The committee could be recalled during the break week but opposition MPs would not be able to attack the document in the full Commons the next day.
If a mini-budget were introduced and passed, it's unlikely the Conservatives could table any new confidence measures before the Commons breaks on Dec. 14.
GST cut won't trigger an election, Dion says
Canadians still in no mood for trip to polls, Liberal Leader believes, setting bar higher for defeating government
CAMPBELL CLARK
With a report from Steven Chase in Ottawa
October 25, 2007
OTTAWA -- Stéphane Dion took election speculation off the boil yesterday by signalling that he is not likely to defeat Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government over a cut to the GST.
There has been speculation that the Tories might transform the government's fall economic statement into a mini-budget that could include the promised second cut to the goods and services tax, which the Liberals have opposed.
Mr. Dion said last week that Canadians do not want an immediate election when he announced that Liberals would abstain in last night's vote on the government's Throne Speech. And he suggested yesterday that he does not expect to trigger an election over the GST cut, either.
"The only thing I want to say about that is if Canadians didn't want an election last week ... I don't really think that they will want an election next week," Mr. Dion told reporters.
Mr. Dion said that cutting another percentage point off the GST is the wrong way to cut taxes, but said his Liberals "will continue to do our role as [the] Official Opposition, explaining why we disagree with the government."
"We want tax cuts for Canadians, but we want tax cuts that will help this country to be more competitive and to be fairer and we have better ideas than another GST tax cut," he said. The Liberal Party prefers income tax cuts.
A two-percentage-point cut to the GST was one of Mr. Harper's marquee election promises in the 2005-06 election campaign. His government cut the tax by one percentage point to 6 per cent last year, and promised to cut the second point later. Some Tories have recently floated the idea that they will go ahead with the second cut this fall.
Mr. Dion's statement yesterday not only indicates that a GST cut alone will not spark a trip to the polls, it sets the bar higher for defeating the minority government this fall on any issue. Mr. Harper has sought to set up a series of confidence-vote showdowns in the House of Commons that force the opposition to decide whether they will defeat the government. He not only prorogued Parliament to deliver a new Throne Speech, but has declared several bills confidence matters - and promised more.
A mini-budget automatically triggers a confidence vote - and because the Liberals have opposed a GST cut, there has been speculation that the Conservatives would include it as a "poison pill" to engineer their own defeat. The economic statement is traditionally limited to an update on Ottawa's financial situation and the latest forecast of its budget balance, or surplus.
Speculation is increasing that the Tories will hold the fall fiscal update earlier than usual, in late October or possibly the week of Nov. 5, when MPs are on a break and the House of Commons is closed. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Tuesday only that the update will take place "within the next few weeks."
The update is usually delivered to the House of Commons finance committee. The committee could be recalled during the break week but opposition MPs would not be able to attack the document in the full Commons the next day.
If a mini-budget were introduced and passed, it's unlikely the Conservatives could table any new confidence measures before the Commons breaks on Dec. 14.
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