As the major federal parties unveil more boutique tax credits targeting specific groups of voters, our panel of journalists looked at the strategy behind these credits and whether they make good economic sense.
“Yeah, it’s not good economics,” said the Toronto Star‘s Susan Delacourt, adding that while it may be bad fiscal planning, micro-targeting does work from a purely political perspective.
“My favourite example of this … is that Conservatives learned around 2004 or so when they were out of power, that snowmobile owners tended to vote Conservative. So, they go up and they buy up all the magazine subscription lists, target those people with messages and give them little bits and pieces and I think the most recent Economic Action Plan had an initiative for snowmobile owners.”
The political panel also tackled the idea of personality clashes interfering with the ability to cobble together a stable government if the election results in a minority situation.
While Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Tom Mulcair may not be sending each other Christmas cards, they will need to work together if the Conservatives score a small minority victory.
“I think if they move, they have to move fast,” said Mark Kennedy, the Parliamentary Bureau Chief for the Ottawa Citizen. “If Stephen Harper comes in with a weak minority, he will probably play for time, probably until January-February before we get a throne speech but at that point, if the Liberals and the New Democrats had any intention of somehow forming a government, they have to bring him down right then and there. They can’t wait until the budget.”
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