Conservative icon Margaret Thatcher once famously said there was no such thing as society. Canadians, it seems, disagree. The pages of The Globe and Mail were brightened this morning by news of a poll that showed 50% of us want the federal government to increase spending on social services while only 19% want reduced taxes.
Add this to the support we offered governments for cutting back in the 1990s to balance their budgets and you have an indelible picture of a people who see themselves as a society, as a community. In lean times, we should all make sacrifices, and in good times, we should all share the wealth. Above all, we should take care of each other.
This is rather surprising considering the corporate press constantly indoctrinates us in the mantra of lower taxes. The lie that taxes must be lower to maximize our economic performance has been utterly disproven by northern Europtean countries which are both high tax regimes and the world's most competitive economies. Nonetheless, the corporate press persists in its propaganda. Canadians, however, aren't buying it. This may be frustrating for Thatcherites, but satisfying indeed to those who believe there is such a thing as society after all. And it is alive and well.
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