Our economic houses are falling down and the interior rot that created this problem is beginning to show.
As with our old wood and brick homes, you have to consider the costs of restoration versus demolition and building a new house.
Today’s politicians talk a great line, but do they have the vision and the intellectual capacity to answer the question about restoring or building a new economic house?
I have my doubts.
It appears we are setting up braces to support crumbling walls without removing the rot or termites that created the problems.
To distract us from the rot, politicians will build a thousand curling and skating rinks. They will add a thousand new passing lanes and build a thousand bridges, and a million ribbons will be cut, but the rot will still be there with a fresh coat of paint.
Politicians, being politicians, will play politics and build vote-getting projects in areas that will garner the most votes in the next election, and not look at what would be the most beneficial to Canadians as a whole for generations to come.
Greenhouse gases are but one example.
We need to reduce carbon dioxide by 400 million tonnes and at a price of $15 per tonne that would equal $6 billion (less than five per cent of the federal budget) and create jobs permanently across the country, but then politicians of all stripes would share in the accomplishment.
Do Canadians want to invest in solar and wind power projects or invest in more roads to make it easier to burn more gas and create more greenhouse gases?
Do we invest in high-maintenance depreciating assets or invest in projects that have positive cumulative after-effects for generations to come?
I am concerned that our politicians will invest in rebuilding an economic house with creaking floors, drafty windows and dripping taps because that is all they know.
We have, on our hands, an unprecedented economic crises that requires vision and courage and a politician that has the capacity to see beyond what has always been and find solutions yet uncovered.
So to sum it up, before we rebuild or build anew, let us push the envelope, raise the bar and think outside the box.
Garfield Marks
Red Deer