Way to create those jobs there, Harper

A long time ago, a friend gave me a handy tip for how to be a baseball spectator and yell helpful things from the stands. You simply add an "er" syllable to everything -- names, nouns, verbs, whatevER. (See?) "Way to batter in there, Jeff-er."

That's probably why I'm finding it so  grating/jarring to hear the new synonym for businesses: "Job Creators." It sounds to me like bleachers chat -- and also a bit like George Bush's one-time fondness for calling America's enemies "evil-doers." I'm betting that Job Creators (patent pending) will be all over Jim Flaherty's  budget. Maybe I'll yell from the press gallery: "Way to  write a budget  there, Jimmer. Toss a tax cut in 'er."

And yes, as Kady O'Malley has reported, "job creator" is part of the new script, north and south of the Canada-U.S. border apparently.  Here are a couple of recent examples (when I say recent, I mean the last 24 hours.)

Harper Government Is Keeping Taxes Low for Canada's Job Creators

The Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Labour, joined the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, and other Ministers across the country today to highlight tax relief for Canada’s job creators.

“The economy remains our Government’s top priority. That is why we are keeping taxes low for job creators to grow our economy and create jobs for Canadian workers,” said Minister Raitt, speaking at an event at Christie Digital Systems in Kitchener, Ontario.

 

From the Tea Party's Michele Bachman last night, after the State of the Union Address:

Obamacare mandates and penalties may even force many job creators to just stop offering health insurance altogether, unless of course yours is one of the more-than-222 privileged companies or unions that has already received a government waiver under Obamacare. In the end, unless we fully repeal Obamacare, a nation that currently enjoys the world's finest health care might be forced to rely on government-run coverage. That could have a devastating impact on our national debt for even generations to come.

Comments

[MCBellecourt]

Good entry, Ms. D. My take on these corporate tax cuts is the same as a CBC blogger put it,

"The cuts will create jobs, alright...in China and India."

Methinks that blogger got it on the money. I know that in my area, the jobs are more sparse than they've ever been, and the jobs that are available aren't even enough to pay rent and upkeep on a bachelor apartment.

[jad]

But apparently Obama is also planning on cutting corporate taxes in order to be more competitive. So are you saying he is wrong too ?

[Gabby in QC]

«Maybe I'll yell from the press gallery: "Way to write a budget there, Jimmer. Toss a tax cut in 'er."»
I never figured you for a "yell-er" from the gallery. I thought your and your colleagues' role was to observe and report.
So when can we expect the next righteous lecture from you on the lack of decorum and civility, the lowering of political discourse, the tone ... ?

[Anne Peterson]

And we all believe all those conservative cabinet ministers because they have all proven themselves incapable of lying or distorting the truth or trying to fool us like good little boys and girls. And since they surround themselves with business interests and business people they must know what they are talking about and COULDN'T possibly be wrong. NOT

[Darwin O'Connor]

Harper would have to be crazy to go to an election on the issue of corporate tax cuts, but that seems to be exactly what he is doing.

Maybe he is hoping to get all the discussion about it over in the first week of the election in order to keep it from coming up later, like how all the discussion about how he blatantly violated his own law to call the last election wasn't talked about after the first week.

[MCBellecourt]

@jad: Obama could very well be wrong, but what Obama does really doesn't concern me, or you for that matter. It's time Canada stood on its own two feet, anyway.

We have the resources that every other country wants. We have been letting those resources go too easily for too little return. If a business wants to do business in Canada, that business should have to pay to use our infrastructure. There was a time when that was the case, and that is how the infrastructure was maintained.

Would you rent a suite to a tenant who refused to pay the rent and trashed the place besides?

Canada is doing just that. There's no need for it.