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For the Bay Street types, there’s his commitment to just a “slight” corporate tax increase and no new wealth tax; for the seniors and homeowners, a promise to restore door-to-door mail delivery; for low-income workers, a vow to raise the federal minimum wage to $15; for young families, a $15 per day national daycare plan, which is estimated to cost the federal treasury $5 billion once fully implemented; and for right-leaning NDP skeptics, an oath to pay for it all while still balancing the budget in year one. Did he miss anyone? If so, here’s something for everyone: an NDP government will abolish the Senate. Boom.

How Mulcair plans to fulfill all these promises is still a matter of speculation. While it’s true that no other major party leader has yet released a fully costed plan, no other leader has also committed to balancing the budget in year one, without significantly raising the corporate tax rate, without increasing other or introducing new taxes, while promising billions more in annual federal spending.

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But even without the balanced budget question, many of these promises fall apart on their own merits. How can Mulcair campaign on a plan for $15 per day daycare when 40 per cent of the funding needs to come from the provinces, several of which have yet to commit to the plan, or else, are in no financial position to fork over the extra cash? How can Mulcair justify restoring door-to-door mail delivery, knowing it will cost $500 million in annual lost savings, all while letter mail volumes continue to erode? Why would he promise to tackle violent crime by hiring more police officers — rather than adhere to the typical orthodoxy of addressing the causes of violent crime, such as poverty, unemployment, inequality and so forth — especially when violent crime rates in Canada have fallen eight straight years in a row? Why loosen the laws on marijuana but stop at decriminalization, which would be more costly and burdensome than full out legalization, with few measurable benefits?

The answer: for the same reason one might agree in theory to hoisting a giant red clown overlooking The Hill. ‘The minute I’m prime minister. Oh, by the way, I’ve picked up your mail. Here you go.’

National Post

Robyn Urback • rurback@nationalpost.com | robynurback