I think your comments are very well put. It strikes me, however, that you need to have a balance.
Again, I agree with you. I started out by saying we should be doing things within the envelope. I can tell you, if I were the Prime Minister of this country and could wave a magic wand, I'd raise taxes. I think we have obligations to our fellow citizens to maintain as human and as rich a quality of life as we can.
I think my understanding of economics is that all of the right-wing economists are nuts, because when you put money in the hands of the less affluent, they spend it, and that money goes back into the economy and allows us to grow the economy. If you give money to wealthy people, the reason they're wealthy is that they don't spend it; they save it. Sometimes they invest it in Canada, and sometimes they don't. Capital has no conscience. Money goes where it will return the best reward.
However, as Canadians, we do have consciences and we should be treating each other with a certain level of respect and love, and I think in order to do that, the importance of not blaming and pointing fingers and raising the level of dignity....
They haven't said it to you, but they've said it to you. When you talk to people with disabilities, what happens is that quite often they are tired of being treated as human waste.
We did something that everybody thought was a great idea. We were going to deinstitutionalize people with mental disabilities. What we did was deinstitutionalize them, but we didn't take the same money and put it back into support in the program. So now what you have is a call for more police on the street. The average municipality today in Ontario is spending over 25% of its budget for policing. That's crazy. It's nuts. Why are they spending money on police? Because people don't feel secure. Why don't people feel secure? Because there is a growing cohort of people who are in need, who turn to crime or to drugs or to other things--a social cost that is amazing.
So what we have to do is balance what we do as a community not only fiscally but socially. I believe in my heart and I believe in my intellect that if we were to do that, our country would be richer, both socially and fiscally.