How do you think a conservative administration will shape the future of Canada for the next 5-10 years?

I’m getting ready for the recession now. Every time we have a Conservative government we have a made-in-Canada recession. There’s no reason to believe this time will be any different.

Spending will go up, a lot, but there won’t be any increase in services. It will all go to friendly contracts or subsidies to their corporate friends. Again, previous experience doesn’t lie. This will make it harder to respond to recessionary conditions, especially those outside the government’s control.

Something major will be privatized – I’m thinking Canada Post, this time around, though it could also be AECL (Atomic Energy Canada Limited), probably at a loss. Also, we will inch toward privatization of health and education – Canadians won’t stand for it if they do it outright, so they’ll underfund them and do it gradually.

Tax breaks for upper income Canadians and corporations. Reversal of the capital gains tax increases. User fees and regressive taxes (like, maybe, the GST) will be increased. The rising deficit will be blamed on immigrants and the poor. There will be some social conservative debate – revival of abortion or capital punishment as an issue, maybe – in order to distract people from the systematic looting of Canadian wealth.

Just as happened in the Harper years, surpluses in government pension plans and employment insurance will be reallocated to other government spending, which will then pay for corporate subsidies and high income tax cuts. None of this money will be available when these funds go into deficit, and there may be an attempt to reduce payments. They will also go after teacher and health care pensions as well.

With the economy is terrible shape, people will be a lot more tolerant of wide-ranging measures that limit employee rights, pull back on basic freedoms, and erode human rights.

As always, it will be a lot harder for future generations to roll back these changes and make Canada free, open and prosperous again. Bit by bit, our common future will be sold for pennies on the dollar, by people who have no real investment in Canada to people who see it only as a resource to be consumed.