Frank Stronach: A 5-point plan Canadian citizens can rally around

If the economy doesn’t function, nothing else will.

And right now, the economy is not working.

It’s not working for low-income Canadians, who can barely get by. It’s not working for many young Canadians with a university degree who are unable to find employment in their chosen field of study or even a line of work that pays a liveable wage. And it’s not working for many small business owners and entrepreneurs struggling to make a profit while being strangled by excessive red tape and regulations.

But governments are also suffering. Without the benefit of a strong and growing economy, federal and provincial governments increasingly find it harder and harder to come up with tax revenue to pay for the growing needs related to health, education and social assistance.

So, who’s to blame? Government certainly must shoulder some of the blame for policies that have discouraged growth and investment and made it increasingly difficult for Canadians to start their own companies. But business is also to blame for failing to give workers a fair share of the wealth they help to create.

Canadians face a skyrocketing national debt, environmental deterioration, declining living standards and increased red tape and regulations that are blocking the arteries of commerce and stifling business productivity.

We can’t look to politicians to get us out of this mess. Politicians mean well and want to serve the people they represent but they are trapped within a system that upholds the status quo and discourages bringing forward new ideas and constructive solutions.

But if enough Canadians joined together and rallied around some core principles for revitalizing our economy, we might finally see some progress on issues that matter most to everyday citizens.

It’s hard to get Canadians of all different walks of life and backgrounds to agree, but I think most Canadians would rally around a plan that kickstarted our economy, tackled out-of-control government spending, reinvigorated our democratic processes, established employee profit sharing programs, and cleaned up our environment.

I believe we should create a citizen’s movement united behind the following five core objectives:

Reduce government debt by 10 per cent per year

We need to severely curtail the skyrocketing government spending of the past several years and start paying it down. We’re harming our children’s and our grandchildren’s futures, who will inherit a massive debt burden unless we take action right away. We need to begin aggressively reducing our national debt because a larger and larger portion of the annual budget must be set aside each year just to pay interest on the debt. Government must establish a debt repayment program that has real teeth and specific targets in terms of repayment amounts and scheduled due dates. We can’t repay the debt in a few years — it’s far too large for that — but we can put a real dent in the amount of money we recklessly borrowed.

Simplify the tax system

Every Canadian knows that our tax system is murky, unnecessarily complicated and overly complex. Canada’s personal income tax code has ballooned in size since it was established more than 100 years ago, becoming ever more convoluted and inscrutable. We need a tax system that is totally transparent, simple to administer and easy to understand – one that dramatically reduces the time businesses and individuals spend filing their taxes. It should be black-and-white, with no grey areas or loopholes. And it should spur economic growth by slashing red tape.

Establish employee profit sharing

Business is driven by three forces: smart managers, hard-working employees, and investors. All three have the right to share in the profits of the business. However, there aren’t enough companies sharing profits with their employees. By establishing employee profit sharing programs, we can help turn workers into capitalists and gradually reduce the growing divide between the working class and the wealthy.

Introduce citizen representatives in Parliament

Many Canadians today feel that we live in a system where power and control rests with political parties rather than with the voters. Introducing non-partisan, democratically elected citizen representatives to Parliament would provide a healthy counterbalance to the power of political parties and we could begin to claw back some of the control wielded by the professional political class.

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent per year

Climate emissions are at seriously high levels, forcing governments around the world to set emissions reduction targets. The combined social, environmental, and economic costs due to climate emissions are enormous. We need to protect our environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and stop the depletion or non-renewable natural resources like oil and gas.

If we gathered enough consensus around these five key objectives, we might finally get what most Canadians want: a government that’s by the people and for the people.

National Post
fstronachpost@gmail.com

Frank Stronach is the founder of Magna International Inc., one of Canada’s largest global companies, and an inductee in the Automotive Hall of Fame.