He balanced the budget on the backs of all Provinces, by downloading costs, cutting transfer payments, gutting the already meager military budget.
One might make the argument that the budget was overly burdened due to those factors (excepting the military).
He benefited greatly from a low dollar and Free Trade, a large part of his revenue stream came from the hated GST and I don't buy that he was unaware of what was happening in Quebec with Adscam.
Ya can't fault Martin for taking advantage of the lower dollar or NAFTA.
As for Adscam, ya, he must have known; but considering the kind of hold that Chretin had, what could Martin have done that would have been different from any of the MPs that knew about the fraud?
Financial matters are usualy recommended by the finance minister...
The capital gains exemption was/is there to help new businesses get started and also to encourage investors...
The finance Minister makes the recommendations based on the policy set forth by the party. The 2 elements are directly tied so in the end, the recommendations are a function of an already pre-determined destiny.
.. And yes, everyone took a bath on the capital gains changes.,, Believe me, you are preaching to the choir on that one.
So that it doesn't seem reasonable that with the inflation rate in the '80s and '90s that the capital gains exemption should be lowered,....I'm sure that it didn't help the economic douwnturn in this century......
I'm not making excuses, but there is the issue of managed growth as well... Take a look at what happened with real estate in the US - I think they could have dealt with the issue in another way, but the possibility does exist.
Besides, it's a real crowd-pleaser when a gvt tries to stick it to the middle and upper income earners; gets a lot of votes with some demographics.
