How ridiculous is that?
At a time when hundreds of thousands of jobs are being lost in Canada, the NDP asks about a plan of action that would cause more job losses.
How does that make sense, coming from a party that claims to represent workers?
For instance, the "we need to shut the tar-sands down” comment from NDP candidate Michael Byers (if you missed the debate, his comment made the front page of Friday’s Vancouver Sun). Everyone knows that the extraction of gas and bitumen is an environmental problem. The process drains the water supply in large amounts, the carbon emissions are huge.
But new technologies are able to change the process. We should stop subsides to this industry immediately and force them to utilize the new technologies that can make the process more environmentally sustainable. The Green Shift plan will do that.
Shutting down the tar sands immediately will lose 145,000 jobs at a time when job losses are escalating... not very bright.
Let's cancel the soft wood lumber deal, says Jack Layton. How smart is that? Over 15,000 jobs have been lost in the BC forestry industry. Mills are closing. Cancelling the softwood lumber deal will cause the loss of whatever jobs are left.
Liberals, on the other hand, were tough in our negotiations with the United States. It was Harper who gave away $1 billion of that deal and succumbed to US pressure. It was Harper who failed to do anything to create new economic development to mitigate the Pine Beetle devastation of our forests.
That's what Layton should be talking about... not jeopardising what jobs still exist in the forestry industry.
Stop the bail-out of big corporations....says NDP rhetoric. I don't think the auto workers who lost hundreds of thousands of jobs in Ontario will agree with that! Nor the garment industry workers, nor the oil field workers.
When does rhetoric cease to be rhetoric and become thoughtless and dangerous public policy?
When the country is on the brink of a recession, and needs a strong government with a clear action plan that focuses on economic redevelopment, encouraging creativity and innovation in sustainable industries, retraining workers for new jobs, enticing businesses to invest in Canada.
Liberals did that in the recession caused by poor Tory policies. We will do it again, with a positive plan of action.
Enough of the rhetoric Jack... those days are gone.
