POLITICAL LOWLIGHTS OF 2014 – #1: Canadians getting Ripped Off by the Conservatives

In 2014, we saw a Conservative government plagued by scandals, out of touch with challenges facing Canadians and preoccupied with photo-ops and their own partisan interests. Meanwhile, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals fail to hold Conservatives to account and, after two years, we still have no idea where they stand on key issues.

A year’s worth of scandals and ineptitude condensed into our annual list of the top political lowlights of the year... LOWLIGHT #1: Canadians getting Ripped Off by the Conservatives

Since coming to power, the Conservatives have continued to dismantle programs and services that Canadians rely on.

Here are a few examples:

• Gradually eliminating home mail delivery, while significantly increasing postal rates;
• Raising the retirement age from 65 to 67, making it harder for seniors to make ends meet;
• Cutting 50% of all local Radio-Canada/CBC news bulletins in several regions;
• Leaving seats vacant on the Social Security Tribunal, which has a backlog of 15,000 cases of unemployed and disabled Canadians who continue to wait for their appeals to be heard;
• Layoffs at the Employment and Social Development Canada - 1 out of every 5 employees has been let go since 2010, which has significantly driven up processing times for EI applications;
• Cutting veterans services – closing 9 regional offices, dismissing 900 file processing specialists, “saving” $1 billion on the backs of our veterans;
• Reducing the number of inspectors in charge of ensuring railway and food safety for Canadians;
• The Conservatives’ insistence on imposing a toll on the Champlain Bridge.

Nothing can justify these irresponsible cuts that are hurting Canadians. Of course, the Conservatives have also made other poor budget choices: refusal to clamp down on tax havens; wasting $750 million in government advertising; military procurement mismanagement, and the list goes on.

Canadians deserve better. And after nine years of Stephen Harper, Canadians just can’t afford to wait for Justin Trudeau to get ready.

Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats can be trusted to hold Conservatives to account while fighting for families and proposing common sense solutions for issues they are facing every day.