Conservatives, Liberals differ on tax plans

October 14, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Brock Weir

Following the exit of the Green Party candidate from last week’s all-candidates meeting in Newmarket-Aurora, the debate continued with Conservative candidate Lois Brown outlining a “clear choice” for Canadians.

This “clear choice”, she said, centred on who can form the best government to “best manage and protect the fragile Canadian economy in the face of global economic turmoil.”

“Our Conservative record stands for itself,” said Ms. Brown. “After facing the worst recession since the Great Depression, our government has a strong record of economic and fiscal management, balanced budgets, lower taxes and historic transfers to the Provinces. I am proud of the work I have done on behalf of the residents of Newmarket-Aurora.”

Over her previous terms as Member of Parliament, Ms. Brown said she was proud of her constituency work, including resolving “thousands” of files for area resident, advocating for the reinstatement of benefits for allied veterans, recognizing the service of cadets involved in the 1970s explosion at CFB Valcartier, and being “instrumental in seeing the inclusion of assistance to single seniors” in the Conservative platform.

“I am asking the voters of Newmarket-Aurora to give me their trust once again on October 19 to continue to be their strong voice in Ottawa,” said Ms. Brown.

In his respective pitch to voters, Liberal candidate Kyle Peterson said he was a proud husband, father, soccer coach, volunteer and lawyer, throwing in an apology for that last credential. Having become involved with the Liberal party a quarter of a century ago to “fight for social justice”, many of those issues remain.

“The Liberal party has three priorities: to create jobs, including creating jobs for youth; to grow the middle class, and to help those hard-working Canadians join the middle class,” he said. “Climate change, threats to our water and land, rapidly growing cities and congestion: these are the barriers to getting goods to market that add to the cost of doing business and confirm that our under-investment in infrastructure is undermining our prosperity and our quality of life. Real change means a Liberal government that will create jobs with the most significant infrastructure investment in Canadian history, but that is just one way to get our country back on track. A Trudeau-led Liberal government will create 40,000 new jobs each year for the next three years.

“It is a strategy that will build a stronger Canada by investing in our country’s foundation: its youth. Real change means we’re going to give a tax break to middle class Canadians by asking the wealthiest 1 per cent to give a little more. Combined with our Canada Child Benefit, hundreds of thousands of this country’s children will be lifted out of poverty. A Liberal government is committed to a strong economy while taking serious steps to counter climate change. We are also committed to treating our veterans, our indigenous Canadians, and our seniors with dignity and respect.”