If you're wondering how the latest controversy over income trusts is going to work out, listen to the silence emanating from the bank merger file. The tax treatment for corporate trusts is a critical issue. On one hand, they have stimulated investment in a host of low-growth businesses. On the other hand, they're a potentially crippling drain on the tax system. But for now, most Canadians wouldn't know an income trust if they found one in their soup, and Ottawa is happy to keep it that way until a quiet compromise can be found -- preferably one that doesn't invite too much discussion.
There is a splendid irony in all this. Back in 1993, Kim Campbell's political career crumbled when she said election campaigns are a bad time to debate serious issues. Little did anyone know that the Liberals would soon take Campbell's approach to absurd extremes. Not only have complex ideas disappeared from the campaign trail, nowadays in Ottawa it's never a good time to tackle a difficult question.
What's particularly noteworthy about the issues put forward by Maich is that each of them has seen substantial opposition-party support which would be sufficient to pass any proposed legislation.
Does anybody think the Cons would want to force an election by voting against corporate tax cuts, particularly if the bill was introduced around a time when opposition days are imminent? Or that the NDP would rather go to the polls than pass a bank merger bill that meets the party's stated criteria for consumer protection?
There might be a legitimate argument for leaving issues to a majority government if they couldn't be dealt with now. But it should be fairly obvious that it's Liberal government, and not minority government, that's keeping us from having a full debate on Canada's economic policy - and that's a bad result no matter which way you'd like to see that policy go.
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