CPCFTW

Cheap labour is not slave labour. Workers in developing economies may be horribly impoverished, but that is better than having no job at all. Those people wouldn't have jobs because when manufacturing jobs come back, the left would suddenly remember that manufacturing jobs cause pollution and kick them out again. Or the best board members and execs will choose to work for corporations located in countries that don't have such measures and we will be stuck with poor managers running money losing ventures being propped up by a bloated government printing paper to sustain itself until the economy collapses under the weight of its own unsustainable debts and moral self-righteousness.

Yes we should impose tariffs and other protectionist measures to keep low skilled jobs within our borders, and the corporations should pay for an educated work force to sew our shoes. What would I do without my $400 Nike shoes sewn by someone with a master's degree in history?

We aren't talking about Marxist economics. Welcome to the 21st century and globalization.

Sure it does. We already have corporations in Canada. Less taxes means they have more money for growth to employ more Canadians. We are also mainly competing in the services industry with the US and Europe. Lower taxes means more service businesses will create jobs in Canada. Especially if we create incentives by offering less taxes through job creation tax credits. Labour costs are also increasing exponentially in the developing world, so while the math may not work out now for relocation of manufacturing jobs to Canada, it could in the future. Lets also not forget that universal health care and other social programs like the CPP reduce costs of labour in Canada as well. Not to mention political stability, lack of corruption, and transparency help to lure businesses to Canada. It's not all about math. Low corporate taxes + free health care + CPP + political stability and other factors would make Canada an exceptionally attractive place for corporations to invest in and create jobs in.

Ireland's GDP is over 3 times what it was in 1995. Saying its economy collapsed is disingenuous. Would you say your income "collapsed" if you went from making 30k to 110k, then had it drop to 95k for a few years?

The GDP growth rate in Japan and Europe is almost stagnant when inflation is taken into consideration. GDP growth rate in Ireland with around 10-15% corporate tax rate has been 5-10% from 1995 to 2008. Even after the financial crisis, Ireland's GDP is over 3 times what is was in 1995. To put that into context, Canada's GDP would be about 2 trillion right now had it grown at the same rate (whereas current GDP is around 1.3 trillion). Your anecdotal evidence of corporate success in high tax locations is meaningless. Germany has a population of 80 million and you are citing three corporations that sell luxury/prestige items employing maybe 500,000 Germans. The allure of BMW, Mercedes, and VW is that they're German made. The execs of these companies know that and that's why they continue to pay higher taxes and labour costs in Germany. Consumers don't want a Chinese made BMWs or even Toyotas. Can you really not understand that?

Cash and cash equivalents on the balance sheet increases the value of a corporation which means their shareholders (your parents and grandparents) get capital gains. Thanks for coming out.

No they are not. The left in Canada are worse fear mongers than Fox News. Don't worry guys, if Harper gets a majority government, there won't be gay lynch mobs and forced conscription to launch a world war III either. Hope you can sleep well tonight.

Germany doesn't have provincial taxes, our tax rate is around the same as theirs factoring corporate taxes anyway. How is ours any less effective? Also, Mercedes and BMW are luxury items. They can afford to pay higher wages to employees because of the profit margin on their products. Newsflash: We also produce products in Canada, doesn't mean we couldn't produce more if corporate taxes were lower. "Some other corporation will gladly step up and take their place"? Yet we still have an 8% unemployment rate. We need to invite more corporations in, not to push them out and hope that some benevolent corporation makes an inexplicable decision to relocate to a high tax regime with higher labour costs. You have no basis for what you're arguing, you're just spouting off nonsense that the corporations need us for some reason. Corporations have been relocating for cost savings for the past two decades and you think they need us? Where have you been the past 20 years? Are you so self-centered and naive that you think you're worth 200 times more than a Chinese worker because you're working towards a philosophy degree?

How did you get that out of my statement?

When will you understand that they pay into that system by employing people? They also pay into that system by earning profits for their shareholders. Their shareholders are the pension plans of your parents and grandparents, and earning more profits means your parents and grandparents don't have to worry about their pensions having a shortfall. I don't understand the demonization of corporate profits. Those banks, telecoms, and oil companies profits are paid into the pockets of shareholders by ways of dividends or capital gains. Most of the MASSIVE profits are in widely held corporations that are held in the RRSPs of Canadians, the CPP ($140 billion in assets), the teacher's pension plan, the federal government pension plans, etc. These companies use the profits to grow and create jobs or to pay dividends to shareholders. There's nothing evil about corporations earning profits for their shareholders... that is the purpose of their existence.

Agree 100%. I can't believe the NDP has any support in this country. What a disaster giving them any sort of power would be. What's sad is that Canada has the cards completely stacked in its favour and we are blowing it. With the way commodity prices are going, we could have the 3rd highest GDP in the world if we knew how to manage our economy. There's enough oil in Alberta that we could have all the uneducated and unskilled labour in Canada making 100k in the oil sands if we wanted. Even in the above scenario, I'm sure the arts majors of this country would unite to cry injustice at the rig pigs having to cope with only 3 or 4 beamers for their family when the oil corporate execs have their own private jets! Oh the humanity!!!

I'm sick of hippies labeling themselves as "compassionate". There's nothing compassionate about making the wealthy pay for everyone else to slack off. The world isn't compassionate and corporations aren't going to bring jobs to Canada because Canadians have more compassion for the environment. It's not compassionate to put people in Alberta out of jobs and make their families suffer because you don't want it to be 1 degree hotter in the year 2200. We need to start teaching economics in high school so that these clueless 1st and 2nd year sociology/philosophy/communications/arts majors can stop negatively impacting this country so much. How can we expect 18-22 year olds who have been taught calculus, biology, and chemistry in high school, and maybe a year or two of socialist propaganda in university, to vote for the good of our nation?