GOLDBERG: Carney must cut taxes, deliver on consumer priorities

Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice CenterCanada just endured an election like no other. With so many twists and turns, Canadians are likely thoroughly relieved that Election Day is in the rearview mirror.Despite Canadians’ many reservations about the Liberals’ performance in government over the past decade, voters decided to give Prime Minister Mark Carney a mandate of his own.The Liberals spent the election focused on U.S. President Donald Trump. But they need to spend their next term, however long it is, focused on Canadians..During his leadership run and throughout the campaign, Carney admitted the Trudeau government took its eye off the ball too often, when it came to the economy.Canadians want to see a government that is laser focused on it.Carney promised to be different than Trudeau on the economy in at least two ways: cutting income taxes and knocking down internal trade barriers..On both files, Canadians want immediate action.Seventy-three per cent of middle-class families are paying more in income taxes today than they were a decade ago.At the same time, 50 per cent of Canadians now say they’re $200 away from not being able to pay their bills.There’s a direct correlation here: higher taxes have led to declining purchasing power and hard-pressed family budgets.Carney is promising to change that. In the Liberal platform, one of the key planks was a pledge to cut the bottom income tax rate from 15 per cent to 14 per cent, saving a Canadian family up to $825 a year..With a trade conflict with the United States still ongoing and prices increasing further through the Canadian government’s tariffs on certain U.S. goods, Canadians are being squeezed even further.The need for an income tax cut is urgent, and Carney should recall Parliament swiftly and put his income tax cut at the top of the agenda.The second key point is internal trade. Canada has a domestic free trade agreement, but it includes 400 carve-outs. This has led, according to the International Monetary Fund, to a de facto 21 per cent tariff on goods being sent from one province to another.Because Canada has free trade agreements with 51 other nations, that means it’s often easier to trade with dozens of other countries than it is to trade within Canada’s borders..Before Carney asked Governor General Mary Simon to dissolve Parliament and call an election, he secured a commitment from Canada’s premiers to eliminate internal trade barriers by July 1.Some provinces have already acted. Ontario, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island have all introduced bills to implement reciprocal policies on domestic free trade.In other words, those provinces will take down their trade barriers so long as the province they’re trading with does the same.Three provinces are a good start, but it’s a far cry from a unified free trading market from coast to coast..Carney need to get on this issue, fast.Genuine free trade in Canada would boost our GDP by $200 billion a year, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.With protectionism surging down south, Canadians can’t afford to leave hundreds of billions of dollars of economic activity on the table any longer.Carney should convene a meeting with the premiers swiftly and demand that they stick to the plan and take down their trade barriers by Canada Day.If they don’t, the federal government should use the leverage it has through the federal power of the purse to ensure that provincial governments live up to their commitments.After last year’s provincial election, British Columbia Premier David Eby, who had promised British Columbians swift action should he be re-elected, took months on end to bring back the Legislature, and ultimately reneged on many of his key election commitments when the Legislature finally did return.Carney should not follow Eby’s lead. The cost-of-living crisis and the present trade conflict with the United States means Canada needs a functioning government now.Carney should swiftly bring Parliament back, get politicians back to work, and keep his commitments to cut income taxes and tear down internal trade barriers.Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice Center.

GOLDBERG: Carney must cut taxes, deliver on consumer priorities

Related Stories