Sheila Gunn Reid @SheilaGunnReid @jfgroves I like how he says spending your money doesn't help the economy. Because what's the economy? These people are dangerously witless
OTTAWA — It looks like another beer and popcorn moment.
In the 2006 federal election the Liberals were hurt when Paul Martin's director of communications criticized the idea of giving parents of young children cheques for $100 a month saying they would just spend the money on beer and popcorn. Now another Liberal says tax cuts are a bad idea because Canadians will spend the money on the wrong things.
"Handing people money for what? Arguably nothing," Marlo Raynald said last week at a public meeting.
Raynald, who is running for the Liberals in the riding of Bannf-Airdrie in Alberta, didn't stop there. He criticized his own province's low-tax policies as well.
"Look at what happened in Alberta: People didn't go and invest in the economy, or invest it in businesses, or invest it in something. They bought TVs, they bought cars, they bought, you know, all these different things. They purchased items that really didn't do anything to benefit the economy," Raynald said.
Is a TV or a car the wrong thing to buy with a tax cut?
I'd say that's up to me or to you but it certainly isn't up to a politician. Raynald, the former head of the left-wing Pembina Institute, thinks differently.
He's not alone in the Liberal caucus.
Trudeau and his candidates in two byelections this week ran the campaigns as if they were referendums on tax breaks recently announced by Stephen Harper's Conservatives.
Raynald complained on Twitter that income splitting was a poor use of $2 billion. Liberal finance guru Ralph Goodale said much the same on CBC.
Meanwhile, an Ottawa-area candidate jumped into an online discussion to say she thinks money is better off in the hands of bureaucrats.
Lawyer Catherine McKenna, running for the Liberals in Ottawa-Centre, retweeted a comment from a member of Joe Oliver's staff.
Conservative Nick Bergamini had written that the Liberal Party "prioritizes money in hands of Ottawa bureaucrats not Canadian families with children."
McKenna retweeted that statement and later acknowledged she agree with it, writing that she endorsed hard-working public servants.
The Liberals have made it clear: They don't like the proposed Harper tax cuts. Trudeau has even said he would repeal income-splitting for everyone but seniors.
What all of these little episodes show is that the Liberals, the party that used to brag about tax cuts, no longer believes in them.
That's a problem for the party going into the next election. But if they win, it could become a problem for taxpayers and their wallets.
Liberals want more of your money | LILLEY | Columnists | Opinion | Ottawa Sun
Michelle RempelVerified account @MichelleRempel 
John Groves @jfgroves 
Michael Harris, MPP @Michaelharrispc 
