Stagg Editorial- July 1994

The military themes that surrounded our honouring of D-Day veterans in June should not be forgotten in July. We need a concentrated effort in this country to bring about economic reform and to restore health to our economy.

The real problem with the Canadian economy is that workers aren't working. When workers aren't working they aren't making money and they cannot spend money. Good men and women are being forced to sit on the sidelines and helplessly watch their best working years slide by. Ordinary citizens along with the supposed expert economists are all finding that economics and fiscal policy are really mysterious arts rather than the precise sciences that the experts suggest. We know that fancy words describing our economic problems do not solve them. What will solve economic problems in Canada are the same things that solve economic problems in a family or in a small community. When a family is out of work it is poor and its members have to do without many things and begin to feel as if they are unworthy in many ways.

It is the same in a community which loses its industry. People do without and after a while people begin to believe that there is something wrong with them and that they are becoming worthless. However once work returns and people have the dignity of a regular pay cheque physical and mental well being return.

Whether it is a fishing port in Newfoundland or an industrial town in Ontario, the job of government is to get people working again and to put money in the hands of people in these communities through work.

In 1994 we are at war with economic decay. In 1944 we were at war with Adolf Hitler, but that war has been won and is long over. The torch of war time effort must now be passed to Canadian citizens of 1994. The war light effort must be directed toward radical changes in the economy to put plenty of money in the hands of private citizens. Massive cuts in government spending through reductions in income tax or permanent elimination of the G.S.T. must be put before Federal Parliament immediately. M.P.'s must have the guts to inflict economic harm on their own civil servants through drastic spending cuts so that the rest of Canadians can have the extra cash generated by these savings to spend and to create jobs by spending among themselves. Every dollar saved from the federal budget is a dollar that is placed in the hands of private citizens.

The war of 1994 is against economic death. The torch and the duty to fight for Canada has been passed to you.

Back to 1994 Index