It is amazing what some creative YouTube editing, the maturity of a 12-year old and a strong disregard for intellectual honesty can do for you these days.
Tim says Gerard Kennedy, the Liberal infrastructure critic supports tax hikes. But it was the Federation of Canadian Municipalities that released a poll last week showing 70 per cent of Canadians would support a 1 per cent GST increase dedicated to local infrastructure repairs and upgrades with 43 per cent of Canadians strongly supporting the increase.
That's not what Kennedy said, it's what a poll of 2,000 Canadians said. You can include whatever caveats you want about polls, but 70 per cent support for a measure is something at least worth taking note of. Is increasing the GST by a point dedicated to infrastructure an idea that should become Liberal and/or government policy? Boy, isn't that something that grown-ups should be able to discuss without immediately resorting to tired rhetoric.
Tim can say he doesn't believe the poll results are accurate, that would be fair. He can say that even if the poll is accurate, he thinks raising the GST to pay for infrastructure is the wrong way to go, also fair. But at the very least let's have a tiny bit of intellectual honesty with what folks actually said.
But then, appearing on CTV's Power Play a little bit later in the day, Kennedy reminded us of something that Tim is wishing none of us would notice:
"I'll quote the poll that I was referring to where FCM talked about raising taxes, [the]GST. They asked Canadians that. The Conservative government is raising taxes in a funny place... employment taxes. They are not talking about it but they are doing it."
As yes, Stephen Harper's job killing permanent tax on everything... so many memories!
So, Tim, before you go out and start a new ad campaign featuring Leechie, the blood-sucking cartoon character, and alleging that the Liberals are reaching back to the 1970s, you may want to take a look at the tax increases your own government is actually implementing.