Ralph Goodale addresses the Economic Club of Canada on October 18th 2010. Photo: Richard McGuire
We had a good day yesterday. In four coordinated events – Scott Brison at the Empire Club in Toronto, Marc Garneau at the Montreal Chamber of commerce, Michael Ignatieff at an Open Mike event in Guelph and my speech to the Economic Club in Ottawa, we sent a message: The Liberal Party regards the economy – and the concerns of middle-class families – as our nation’s top priority.
As I told the room : I am not a pirate! (see full speech for details). What I am is a member of a party that believes hard-pressed middle-class families are being left to fend for themselves by this Conservative government. On everything from family care, to the high cost of higher education, to adequate pensions for a decent retirement, the Tory response is:
Let them eat cake.
For proof, look no further than last week’s hastily delivered Economic update. It was filled with nothing but absurd rhetoric and questionable numbers. It offered no analysis, and the only thing it revealed was that the Conservative deficit is even HIGHER than they thought – $2B higher, in fact.
Not surprising since Jim Flaherty has now cemented his government’s reputation as the biggest-borrowing, most-indebted, highest-spending regime ever.
To make matters worse, what they’re actually spending on is completely out of sync with the priorities of Canadian families.
Conservatives prioritize a more costly & less reliable census, stealth fighters, bigger jails and an extravagant G20 weekend. But the needs of middle-class families don’t figure.
What Michael, Scott, Marc and I said yesterday is that Canadians have a choice. A choice between Conservative waste and mismanagement, or a learning society where every Canadian can reach their potential, with help for middle-class families, support for seniors and a new era of global leadership. Now that’s a vision worthy of our history.
We’ve made our choice. We choose the priorities of middle-class families. We choose forward-looking policies to lead to a more prosperous future. We choose to pull our country together, and face together our challenges as one great people.
With these choices, we can build the future our children deserve.
Thank you.
—Ralph
Ralph Goodale is the Liberal MP for Wascana and the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
