"Where's the tax relief?" Manning asked Martin in speech today
Contacts:
Ron Wood
Telephone (613) 791-2697Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications
The Fraser Institute, Tel: (604) 714-4582
Email: suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca
Release date: 23 May 2001
CALGARY, AB,—Seventy-six percent of Canadians surveyed in a national poll say they have not noticed any of the tax relief promised by Finance Minister Martin in his last two budgets. "Obviously, if tax relief is intended to stimulate the economy, a lot more work needs to be done to bring real tax relief to Canadians at the national level" said Preston Manning in a speech held in conjunction with the Annual General Meeting of the Fraser Institute today in Calgary.The Fraser Institute has consistently urged governments of all political stripes to control their spending, balance their books, reduce their debts, and reduce their taxes.
Manning welcomed last week's election of the Campbell Government in British Columbia as a positive step toward achieving these objectives in that province. He urged his audience to "carry on the revolution" until the principles of fiscal responsibility are "carved into the statutes and cabinet table of every government in Canada, including the federal government."
During his speech, Manning, who will join the Fraser Institute as a Senior Fellow after his retirement from parliament, also declared that "the conservative agenda" for the first part of the 21st century should include:
- Bringing private resources and market place mechanisms to bear on meeting the health care and educational needs of Canadians.
- Developing a fresh constitutional vision for Canada which challenges concentrations and abuses of power in the political market place.
- Reconciling the interests of fiscal conservatives with those of social conservatives committed to conserving families and law and order.
- Making "environmental conservation" as much a part of the conservative creed as the conservation of freedom.
- Applying the principles of democracy to the governance of international trade, including the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
- Uniting economic, social, constitutional, environmental, and democratic conservatives, to advance common goals, internationally as well as domestically.
The national poll to which Manning referred was conducted by POLLARA during the first week in May.
Established in 1974, The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization based in Vancouver, with offices in Calgary and Toronto.
For further information on the Institute contact:
Suzanne Walters, Director of Communications,
The Fraser Institute, (604) 714-4582,
Email suzannew@fraserinstitute.ca