As a woman with an extensive entrepreneurial background, there are only two issues Moe Comuzzi is worried about in this month’s federal election – jobs and the economy.
And the Conservatives are the party to lead Canada back to prosperity, said the 50-year-old Comuzzi, looking to improve on her runner-up finish in 2011 in Thunder Bay-Rainy River.
“It’s so important that we create opportunities for our kids and our families – job opportunities. We’re in a diamond-in-the-rough here. We have resources at our disposal in the Ring of Fire. There’s $80 billion of infrastructure money available for us, for crumbling roads, for bridges, for municipalities,” Comuzzi said after last Wednesday’s debate.
“I’m running because we need to provide our kids with good-paying long-term jobs.”
It can still be done without increasing the country’s debt, Comuzzi said.
While the Liberals plan to run short-term, $10-billion infrastructure-laden deficits for the near future, now is not the time to borrow, at the expense of higher taxes.
It’s the Conservatives that have a low-tax plan that will stimulate the economy and not overburden businesses of all sizes with tax increases levied to pay for excess spending.
“We need to grow our economy and grow our population so we can grow as a community,” she said. “And the only way we’re going to do that is by embracing the Ring of Fire, getting the province to complete their infrastructure plan and making sure that we can provide these good-paying jobs.”
Comuzzi embraces the country’s newly inked Trans Pacific Partnership deal, saying it opens markets for Canadian good and services to 800 million more people.
It’s time for change, she said, adding her party has plenty of money available to pay for its share of a Thunder Bay event centre – as long as it’s a priority for the city and won’t be built to house a professional hockey team.
Comuzzi warned the NDP and Liberals have plans to reintroduce some form of long-gun registry – which her opponents have denied – and will continue with programs such as the family tax cut, an increase to the universal child-care benefit and doubling the children’s fitness tax credit to $1,000.
“I can get things done. I’m a small businessperson. I know how to create a job and I’m doing this because our kids deserve it,” Comuzzi said.
