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“If we’re going to have a big argument here about how to create jobs, how to create a future for the Canadian economy, this is a debate that we welcome,” he said. “You can cut corporate taxes when you’re in a surplus. Cutting it in a deficit adds to Canada’s financial woes and we think the way to create jobs is invest in post-secondary education and help small and medium enterprises to become more competitive and take on more workers.”
So the financial situation means that we can’t afford tax cuts but we can afford new spending on education? But that’s not what I find most bizarre about the above paragraph (for a complete discussion on this silliness check out Mike Brock’s article).
If medium enterprises hire more people wouldn’t they become large enterprises and thus unworthy of “help” in the eyes of the Liberal Party? But again that isn’t my main objection.
The part that really has me scratching my head is this idea that “investing” in post-secondary education will create jobs. I have often heard that there is a need for more skilled labour, but the jobs that need that labour already exist. They are just waiting to be filled. But can having a higher education actually create a job?
Consider someone who has just graduated from an engineering school. They are interested in getting into the mining industry. Will then a job in the mining industry spontaneously appear to accommodate this desire?
Of course not.
For that job to exist someone has to invest the money to develop the resource. You can have all the expert engineers in the world but if no capitalist is willing to take a financial risk then they will all be working at Wendy’s.
I find Dr. Ignatieff’s lack of basic understanding of…well of reality, to be very worrisome.
7 comments:
It is exasperating to hear such nonsence, it only shows how disconnected Iggy is with normal working Canadians. Canada annually graduates thousands of university students. Many of these people are still looking for meaningful jobs years afterword, For just one example, Ont. graduates hundreds more teachers then then there is demand for. It is not a matter of enough post secondary graduates, but in which disciplines. Canada needs workers in technical and industrial skills, not more university students. Any parent could tell Iggy from personal experience the problem of jobs
waiting for their university students.
You have to think like a socialist: all those graduates will be working for the government.
In a free society, though, it's like saying if I build it there will be a market for it. It's completely backwards.
Finland has free university education and guess what? They have the most highly educated unemployed or underemployed in the world.
But imagine if we could duplicate that scenario here in Canada. Presto, the white knight Liberals ride in to rescue the day with a brand new social program that we absolutely need to help these poor students. After all, could you expect anything less from a "compassionate" society?
If you subsidise higher education too much all you get is a lot of people in school that should not be and higher tuition fees/taxes for the rest of the population.
Medium sized enterprises pay corporate tax.
The debate on tax cuts is going to go silent the moment the discussion turns to getting rid of the political subsidy.
Perhaps Ignatieff should broaden his education to include Economics 101...
As a university grad, and the parent of university grads, I am insulted that Dr I would view only universities as worthy of his consideration. We are in dire need of more techs, plumbers, mechanics, painters, licenced practical nurses, etc., etc., and I know I've missed so many vocations.
When our children were considering their future careers, our comment was always "that sounds interesting; how do you plan to feed yourself?" They all ended up taking uni courses that had a practical application. We are very proud of them; we would be equally proud had they been all vocationally minded and ended up with journeyman qualifications, or near offer.
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