Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and members of his economic team met with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce today to talk about the need to ease the economic burden on struggling middle-class families, and the need to strengthen Canadian competitiveness.
“Canadian families have seen their personal debt skyrocket as they struggle to pay for education, save for retirement, and care for sick loved ones,” said Liberal Finance Critic Scott Brison. “We spoke with the Chamber about the need to ease economic pressures on middle-class families while working to balance the budget, eliminate wasteful spending and create new jobs.”
Yesterday, the Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, sounded the alarm on Canadian household debt. For the first time in 12 years, the Canadian personal debt-to-income ratio is now higher than the Americans’, up 6.7% from last year.
“Today’s discussion focused on the need to invest in learning to reduce education costs and help create the jobs of tomorrow,” said Liberal Associate Finance Critic Alexandra Mendès. “Our pan-Canadian learning strategy is a plan to create jobs and a highly skilled workforce by helping more students attend post-secondary school. In our view, if you get the grades, you get to go.”
“We also agree on the need for a clean energy strategy that helps Canadian families and businesses improve energy efficiency and cut their power bills,” said Liberal Industry Critic Marc Garneau.
“Tackling the debt crisis calls for better economic choices that help middle-class families along with a fiscally prudent approach to balancing the budget,” said Mr. Brison. “The Conservative government’s spending choices – on stealth fighters, super-prisons and corporate tax breaks – don’t help families. The Liberal Party’s choices – learning, pensions and family care – will benefit the economy and ease the pressure on families.
“The Liberal Party also recognizes that any new investments by the government must be offset by identified savings,” concluded Mr. Brison. “As part of our plan to balance the budget, we remain committed to cancelling corporate tax cuts until Canada is in a position to afford them.”
