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| Who's Kissing The E-Commerce Baby? | |
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The NDP, for instance, doesn’t even seem to know e-commerce exists. The closest they come in their just-released policy statement is a promise to “provide investment, technical, and marketing support for entrepreneurs and community economic development groups” (NDP Commitment to Canadians, p. 10). No details of how they might do this are provided.
The Canadian Alliance at least seems to be aware of some of the issues related to technology. In a speech delivered to the Greater Nepean Chamber of Commerce last June, "The Next Step Towards a Stronger Economy", Stockwell Day spoke of using tax relief to end the brain drain, which he described as, “slowly draining Canada of the ability to pay for our social safety net.” His proposed solution is to eliminate the existing 5 percent surtax.
In the same speech, Mr. Day spoke of helping the business sector by reducing the inclusion rate of capital gains taxes from 66 to 50 percent, a tax cut he described as “…especially welcome in high technology fields where stock options are an important part of compensation.” Yet there is no mention of e-commerce or even specific strategies to encourage technological industries in the Alliance Economic Policy presented online.
The Progressive Conservatives, on the other hand, are not only aware of the technology-related challenges this country faces, but present some measures for dealing with them in their published policy. Their technology-related initiatives are geared towards ensuring that Canada continues to be a global player and attempts to address the security issues that currently keep Canadian participation in e-commerce in check. For instance, the Progressive Conservatives promise to “work with the provinces to develop a comprehensive privacy and security code for electronic communications” and “ensure that Canada plays an active role in establishing an internationally recognized, respected seal or trademark for consumer protection and a forum for dispute resolution.” They’ve also given some thought to creating a favourable climate for e-commerce, promising to “examine tax treaty laws to ensure there is tax neutrality for non-resident investment in Canadian e-business” ( PC Full Policy, p. 4).
Like the Liberals, the Progressive Conservatives see the federal government as a role model for providing services and products online, and showing how businesses can use the internet to improve their bottom lines. To that end, they promise to “embrace electronic payment systems, play a role in research, and equip the government bureaucracy to participate in an online system, thus putting all federal programs and services online by 2002”. While no details are given about how they would implement any of these promises, at least the Progressive Conservatives have done some thinking about the issues related to e-commerce.
Most of the Progressive Conservative e-commerce related strategy, however, is borrowed from the Liberals, who have done all the ground-breaking in establishing and implementing Canadian e-commerce policies.
Next page > Liberal E-Commerce Policies > Page 1, 2, 3
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