[djforsberg]

Conservative parties throwing one time payments at a few things in an election year doesn't suddenly absolve them of their overall cruel and shortsighted desire to deregulate and privatize the public service, as history and current events has shown. There is a lot of talk about the NDP spending money the government doesn't have but what is missing from the conversation is the costs on society that shifting public services away from government has on each and every one of us. For example, would it really be better if instead of increasing taxes on those people and businesses who can afford it to better fund the healthcare system, that instead we create a two-tier system that underfunds the public system even more and pushes more people to the private system, only for them to end up paying more per capita out of pocket instead of via a progressive tax system because of the duplicated admin costs and profits? Another example is spending more money on the police, justice system, and healthcare to react to the effects of homelessness and poverty, than it would cost to just house people. Finally, the notion the NDP spends more than other parties flies in the face of reality, where conservative parties have added more to government debt than the left has in recent decades. I would just like to see the conservative posters on this forum be honest and just say they don't like spending on social programs instead of being morally outraged about spending and debt in general.