Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Heather Mallick and Linda McQuaig both weigh in on the connection between income splitting and the Cons' plans for social engineering. And Scott Clark and Peter DeVries point out that a giveaway to wealthy families is as indefensible from an economic standpoint as from a social one:

(T)his tax conversation is simply the wrong one for us to be having right now. Why the rush to cut taxes? More importantly, why these tax cuts — ones which will do nothing at all to jump-start Canada’s anemic economic growth rate?

The unemployment rate is stuck at seven per cent. The youth unemployment rate remains at around 14 per cent. The labour force participation rate is lower today than in 2008. Long-term unemployment continues at record levels. The employment rate is lower than it was in 2008, while employment growth in the last 18 months has been virtually stagnant, with very few full-time jobs created. Oil prices have dropped by 25 per cent, which will undermine economic growth and government revenues. The IMF has warned that the global economy is entering a period of “mediocre” or “stagnant” growth.

We fully understand the pressures on families to provide childcare, but unless we act now to build a stronger economy going forward, all social programs will be at risk. Tax breaks are nice. But we’ve got far bigger problems right now. Creating good jobs for the many Canadians who need them is the critical first step to an affordable and sustainable childcare program.

- Meanwhile, it's no coincidence that the party which wants to incentivize financial dependence is also the one which refuses to protect women (or anybody else) in the workplace.

- And likewise, the Cons' anti-social tendencies are obvious from the access the PMO repeatedly granted to anti-worker groups to develop legislation to attack unions.

- Anna Mehler Paperny reports on the Cons' consistent message to non-citizens - and particularly refugees and other vulnerable immigrants - that they're not welcome in Stephen Harper's Canada. And Patrick Butler highlights the experience of children living in poverty who likewise don't seem to be priorities for the Cons.

- Finally, Clay Nikiforuk discusses how Michael Zehaf-Bibeau fell through the gaps in a shredded social safety net.