Political ads may be sharp criticisms of a candidate or party, but they tell an incomplete story, often leaving out inconvenient details. They claim to be informing the people, but they should be seen as nothing more than political propaganda, distorting and subverting the truth.
While every political group is guilty of this, my investigation for this article hinged on an online image that makes four claims about the prime minister, allegedly Canada’s “worst economist ever” (see above).
The first two claims stem from blog posts written last fall by Ralph Goodale, the deputy leader of the Liberal Party and former Minister of Finance under Paul Martin. In the original blogs, Goodale does not provide sources for his information, so readers cannot check the facts for themselves. In fact, I could not find any evidence to support the first claim.
While I will concede that Goodale may have had greater access to Canadian economic records in his position as finance minister, the information available to the majority of Canadians does not cover the period of time during which R. B. Bennett served as prime minister, — the Great Depression. Without any accessible evidence on which to base this claim, we, as critical thinkers, cannot readily accept it.
The second claim, that the Harper administration has added $169 billion to the national debt, also requires some examination. While the national debt has increased since the Conservatives first came to power in 2006, the figures here have been slightly exaggerated.
According to figures retrieved from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which runs a debt clock to show the per-second increase in debt, less than $100 billion had been added to the debt at the time Goodale wrote his blog. Currently, Conservative debt is just above $123 billion, which is still not great, but is better than the $169 billion claimed both by Goodale and the attack ad.
While the national debt has increased since the Conservatives first came to power, the figures here have been slightly exaggerated.
The third claim is true, the last six Conservative budgets have all been deficits. What this claim fails to point out, though, is that each of these deficit budgets has come after the Great Recession, the worst global economic crisis since the end of the Second World War.
While the Conservative government could have taken an easier road by raising taxes and cutting some of their financial initiatives, such as the Universal Childcare Benefit Plan, they made the choice to remain true to promises that had been made prior to forming the government, such as keeping taxes low.
As the Canadian economy continues to recover and the deficit in each budget since the Great Recession decreases, barring another crisis, it is likely that the government will be able to start tackling this problem in the foreseeable future.
Finally, concerning the fourth claim, while some elements of taxation have increased, such as Canada Pension Plan, federal taxes have not increased under the Conservative government.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Finance’s website, “The federal tax burden is now the lowest it has been in 50 years,” and the government since 2006 has “cut taxes for an average family of four by $3,220.” I don’t know about you, but I could definitely use an extra three thousand dollars in my bank account. I mean, that’s a full-time semester!
So as we move into next year’s election and more ads like this begin to appear, I only ask that we think critically about what we are reading and hearing.
Don’t be sheep. Be critical thinkers and look into both the information and its source, lest you become a tool in a political propaganda machine.
