The Conservative Party of Canada in a recent online survey revealed their proposed Economic Action Plan 2013.

Their plan involves establishing three funds; the Community Improvement Fund to support the local community projects in cities and communities; the Building Canada Fund to support major economic projects that have a national, regional, and local significance; and, finally, the P3 Canada Fund to support innovative ways to build infrastructure projects faster and provide better value for taxpayers through public-private partnerships.

On the surface this plan is very, very similar to the Christian Heritage Party’s economic stimulus plan, which we’ve promoted for over a decade. However, there is one major difference. The Conservative Party doesn’t reveal who will pay for this plan. At CHP Canada, we make this perfectly clear.

On the CHP Canada website it reads:

The CHP would put Canada back to work with a nationwide infrastructure stimulus package that would fix our cities, our highways, and our bridges.

Jobs stimulate the economy. The CHP would revive the plan that was successfully used in Canada to combat unemployment after the Second World War. The Bank of Canada was ordered to make virtually interest-free loans to provinces, municipalities, and cities for infrastructure projects: roads, highways, bridges, rail lines, ports—today we could include hospitals, urban and inter-urban passenger rail lines, and water and sewage treatment plants. These facilities improved access to resources and to markets, and the increased economic activity enabled the borrowing agencies to quickly repay the loans — which were then retired, so that the injection of capital was non inflationary.

That construction activity, initiated after the war by PM Mackenzie King, touched off the longest-lasting economic boom in Canadian history. And when the loans were repaid, the permanent infrastructure was still there. It’s a good plan.

Yes, today, our infrastructure is crumbling, and the solution the Conservative Party is offering could have been a very good one but because they are creating “Funds” instead of “Zero Interest Loans” they are, in effect, creating yet another “Debt Growth Plan.”

Now, the Conservative Party could come out and say they are going to use the Bank of Canada to finance their Economic Action Plan at zero interest but then the honourable thing to do is to give some credit to Liberal Mackenzie King or CHP Canada. Given that they ended their survey by asking which party you would vote for if an election was held today: Conservative Party of Canada, Liberal Party of Canada, New Democratic Party, Green Party of Canada, the Bloc Québécois, or Undecided… and not a mention of CHP or at the least “Other,” we can be assured that that won’t happen.

CHP Canada readily acknowledges that the idea behind the economic plan that we adopted over a decade ago was Liberal Mackenzie King. A great idea is worth reusing. For more plans for Canada that will work in the future visit www.chp.ca

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