Actually, the government doesn’t ‘have your back’

The next time you hear a politician proclaim, “We’ve got your back,” reach around and feel for knives.

No, the government doesn’t have your back.

Any benefit anyone receives during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown is their own money, in the sense that the government doesn’t have any money that isn’t the public’s money.

Conservatives will have to pause to ponder that, but let’s move on.

It’s your money. It’s our money. Giving you some when you need it is not “having your back.” It is your right as a citizen.

Conservatives have stopped reading, so let’s get to the essentials.

Pull the first knife out of your back. It is labelled, “Banks.”

Pull the second knife out. It is labelled, “Insurance companies.”

When the citizenry was told to stay home, i.e., to freeze their social and economic life, did the federal government order the banks to freeze all debt payments for mortgages, cars, credit cards, etc. for the duration of the lockdown? Of course not. Banks are far more important than you or me or any other citizen.

Some banks offered debtors a postponement of payments, but interest would continue to accrue. In comparison, Scrooge was generous even before he met a ghost.

The economy as we knew it must grind to a painful and costly stop, but bank income and profits must persist.

Insurance is a provincial jurisdiction. During their COVID-19 daily updates, Dr. John Haggie and Dr. Dwight Ball list the newest provincial numbers — cases, hospitalizations, recoveries — but have yet to address insurance numbers.

The good doctors have told people to stay home, except to get groceries and prescription drugs. Let’s presume people obey, and go to the supermarket once a week and to the drugstore once a month. That’s five outings per month.

Previously, they drove to work at least 20 times per month, and went on weekend outings, say, four or five times per month.

Ergo, their driving has declined by 80 per cent. Their risk of getting into an accident has declined by 80 per cent.

Insurance, we are repeatedly told, is an industry based on risk. Insurance premiums are determined by risk. Have auto insurance rates gone down 80 per cent?

In some provinces, insurance companies have offered people a 10 or 20 per cent reduction of premiums, or a pathetic one-time rebate. See reference above to Scrooge.

A man in the back has his hand up. Oh look, it’s Ches Crosbie.

“This seems like a perfect opportunity for a class-action lawsuit.”

“Indeed. Glad to hear you’re on it.”

“Can’t. I’m otherwise occupied, unfortunately.”

Down the road in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin “I-haveyour-back” Trudeau is doling out billions to ensure the Liberals stay in office for another term or two.

But as soon as the pandemic ends, the Liberals will push the knives deeper, and probably plunge a few more in.

The federal government is every bit as unprepared for the end of the pandemic as it was for its arrival. Society cannot and must not go back to the same economy, and the same politics.

Trudeau and his government are oblivious. They show no foresight. They say nothing about the huge changes society must make in order to fix the economic and personal wreckage the pandemic has wrought.

Here is what must happen, but won’t.

Canada must institute a guaranteed minimum income. The current $2,000 per month would be a good basic start.

The single Conservative still reading wants to know how this will be paid for.

Like this: kill the employment insurance program (annual revenue: $25 billion); kill the Canada Pension Plan (annual revenue: $50 billion); kill Old Age Security (annual payouts: at least $50 billion); kill all the provincial welfare programs; lay off and save the salaries of the thousands of bureaucrats who have enforced the punitive, unjust and judgmental rules of UI, EI and welfare over the years.

And there you’d have it: $125 billion annually, plus many billions more, to provide a basic income to every Canadian who needs it, and quickly repair the tattered economy, without costing governments an extra cent.

The lone Conservative is livid.

“I want my $14,000 CPP! I paid for it!”

“Sir, a guaranteed basic income would give you $24,000.” Brian Jones is a desk editor at The Telegram. He can be reached at brian.jones@thetelegram.com.