September 13, 2015

The fact that the average Canadian is currently spending more than $1.5 for every $1.0 earned shouldn’t be a surprise if you follow the trend in Canadian politics.  I typically don’t like to get political in my blogging, but this time of season where a Canadian election is around the corner only the best has been brought out in our Canadian politicians.  I say that with a great deal of sarcasm of course.

It isn’t however the fault of our political parties to rally support through thoughtless promise.  Promises that they know very well the people will never hold them accountable for.  Let’s face it, all is fair in love and war…..and politics.  A party leader is only going to cater to the wants of the people, and when the people are throwing votes at the expense of horrendous debt I guess we should expect what we ask for.

The simple fact of the matter is this.  You cannot continue to spend what you do not have.  Don’t get me wrong, I have the same drive to get the best healthcare, the best education for our kids, and provide the best security of our country as the next person.  But to gain a popular vote by promising the moon to every Canadian does not seem responsible.  By no surprise then, there has been very little campaigning that mentioned spending cuts, or increasing efficiency or complete removal of broken programs.  I have heard a lot of thoughtless promise, but no mention how on earth they plan to pay for this. 

We live in one of the largest countries of the world with one of the highest resource values of any country yet, we are acquiring more debt than the majority of the first world, and by many metrics in comparison to other countries fall short.

There is only one answer to this.  We need to change our views before we change our government.  We need to figure out how to get our own households in order and out of debt before we can ask the same of our government. We need to reduce our strain on the environment by changing our consumer patterns, spend less than we make, understand that living in our country is a privilege and not a right and for goodness sake quite blaming the government for the monster each one us has created.