It may sound strange, but sometimes the right thing to do is to break a promise.
That's the hard lesson that Canadians will have to learn in the wake of the federal government's surprise decision on Tuesday (Oct. 31) to change the tax-free status of income trusts.
Yes, the Tories specifically said they would not touch income trusts in their election campaign - mainly, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper explained, to help protect the investments of Canadians, especially seniors living off their retirement savings.
But when the income trust bandwagon started turning into a stampede - the announcements by telecom giants Bell and Telus being the first major sign - the government had to act in order to keep the treasury from being sucked dry. Telus and Bell alone would have cost the federal government $1 billion in taxes per year had they moved to income trusts.
Naturally, the change in direction has the Liberals screaming for blood - partly out of concern for Canadian seniors who may have seen the value of their retirement savings just take a nose dive, for certain, but mainly because they smell an opportunity to knock the government off its pedestal.
We certainly empathize with those who have lost significantly because of this decision. But that doesn't change the fact that it absolutely had to be done. The trend was clear: the government was on track to lose literally billions of dollars in revenue per year. The federal surpluses of the past 10 years would have vanished overnight, plunging us back into the pit of deficit financing we are just starting to dig ourselves out of. Some will suffer because of this decision - but not nearly as many as would suffer if the government had to start taking an axe to program spending for lack of tax dollars. This is a clear case of action for the greater good.
The Tories could have kept their election promise and stuck to their guns - and politically, it might have been an easier path, particularly in a minority Parliament where the opposition parties are just looking for a chance for revenge and have the ability to extract it.
Thankfully, on this issue the Conservatives have shown true courage and leadership -ironically, by breaking their promises.
