I am a big fan of numbers, but sometimes they just don't add up.
Take employment insurance. EI is intended to be a defined contribution plan paid into by both employees and employers. Each pay period, we set aside a small sum of money against the potential of losing a job. The amount of revenue the fund collects each year is intended to match the expenses it pays out.
This coming year, Finance Minister Joe Oliver's budget anticipates withdrawing an extra $1.8 billion out of the EI Fund to balance the budget.
That means the government is keeping the EI rates artificially higher than required. Indeed, this year's budget document indicates the EI surplus will grow to $5.5 billion the following year.
Sure we are getting tax breaks in the form of reductions to our personal income tax, but we are paying hidden taxes in the form of EI premiums.
Or consider the cut to the annual contingency. This is money the government sets aside in case it is required.
It is money the government intends to use if its projections are wrong.
The annual contingency has been cut from $3 billion to $1 billion over the next three years. And sure, it can be argued that having a contingency while running a deficit isn't a smart plan, but changing the amount presents a false number when presenting a balanced budget.
Then there is the number seven. This is the number of years the so-called fiscally-responsible Conservative government took before finally producing a balanced budget again. If the central plank in your campaign platform is that your leader is better at handling taxpayers' money than the other guys, you might want to consider having a better record with regard to the budget.
This is particularly true because the choices the Conservatives have made ensured we would have deficits long after it was necessary as a result of the 2008 financial meltdown. Running up the debt and blaming it on 2008 is simply wrong.
Of course, there are also the numbers $54, $67 and $75. These are the average oil prices assumed in the budget.
The basic tenet is the price will continue to rise back to previous highs.
The government is banking on high oil prices to balance the books. Never mind the cost to the consumer.
High oil prices sound good if you are collecting revenue from the resource, but they significantly hamper economic growth for the rest of us.
Here is another number: 275,841.
This is the number of Canadians who have signed a petition calling for the government to stop C-51. Many Canadians see this bill as opening access to our lives in ways we have yet to imagine. It is frightening in its powers.
It was also opposed by four former Conservative and Liberal prime ministers, 36,000 lawyers, 100 law professors, 60 business leaders and the privacy commissioners for all of the provinces and territories except New Brunswick.
This is an exceptionally bad piece of legislation that was opposed in a very non-partisan fashion.
Two more numbers are 183 and 96. Respectively, those are the numbers of MPs that voted for and against the legislation. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper was not one of them. He did not vote, which is not surprising considering he missed 68 per cent of the sitting days for the House of Commons. That was more than any other leader.
The number 412 might explain why the Conservative government felt they needed to pass Bill C-51. It is the number of times Conservative MPs uttered the word "terrorist" during this last sitting of Parliament.
It averages out to six times per day. Presumably, if you say something often enough, it must be true.
Then there is the number 35, which is the number of sitting Conservative MPs who have either already resigned from government or have indicated they will not be running in the upcoming election. This includes Industry Minister James Moore, a UNBC Alumnus and senior B.C. MP.
When you only have 159 elected members, losing just over one fifth of them is a fairly high turnover rate. Admittedly, this government is getting long in the tooth but with the way MPs are abandoning the cause, you can't help but wonder if they know something we don't.
Which brings us to the last two numbers, zero and one. The first is the number of recommendations Harper has committed to implementing from the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It would seem he and his government considers truth more important than reconciliation, which might explain why our one and only aboriginal affairs minister chose to remain seated during an emotional standing ovation offered to Justice Murray Sinclair.
Yes, the numbers just don't seem to add up.
