It’s more than bad math. It’s a horrible plan. Tuesday’s debate was easy on Hudak by not being specific about just how bad the plan is. Austerity, corporate tax cuts, anti-union policies and slashing education funding are “tough choices” according to Hudak. Austerity has failed in the UK, Greece, Spain etc. It imposes huge costs on the average citizen for the benefit of the ultra rich, while failing to cause financial recovery. New Brunswick Buisness Council, after having lowered the corporate tax rate to 10%, asked to have it raised as it did not produce the desired effect. Anti-Union policies lead closer to the “right to work” states in the US that Hudak admires. This will privilege us with the “right to be paid less”. Government deficits are not equivalent to household budgets; “tightening your belt” alone won’t do it. The US has been in debt every year but one since 1776. Education is too valuable to be a scapegoat for deficit evils. Classrooms with fewer resources, less teachers, and more students is “tough” and wrong. There are tough choices for the voter on June 12; what isn’t tough is realizing whose “common sense” pablum tastes the worst while leaving you hungry.
Josh Cranston