To the Editor:
This calendar year seems jam-packed with special anniversaries, both glorious and sad.
This week, we're marking the 95th anniversary of the historic, but costly WWI battle of Vimy Ridge, which helped establish Canadian nationhood.
This weekend, we'll all remember the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
In June, people in my home-town will recall the devastating 1912 Regina Cyclone - the worst wind storm in Canadian history.
On Tuesday, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the repatriation of our Constitution and the creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Queen Elizabeth signed it into law on April 17, 1982.
And speaking of Her Majesty - 2012 is the year when Canada and the Commonwealth are paying tribute to the Queen's amazing success and longevity. Sixty years on the Throne! And going strong!
This year is also the 60th anniversary of Canada's Old Age Security (OAS) program. It took a constitutional amendment back in 1952 to create the old age pension and then its guaranteed income supplement (GIS).
Sadly, with just one speech delivered in Switzerland this past January, Mr. Harper declared the OAS/GIS no longer "sustainable". And according to him, the lowest-income, older Canadians will just have to survive in future with less.
There are many other milestones to be commemorated this year - one of them is part of Canada's fiscal history.
This fall, we'll mark the centenary of the ONE AND ONLY TIME a Conservative government actually balanced a federal budget in the entire 20th century.
Yes, the year was 1912. The Prime Minister was Robert Borden. He had just inherited a balanced budget from Wilfrid Laurier. And he kept it that way for one year.
The next Conservative balanced budget came in 2006, again inherited from a previous Liberal government. But by 2008, Mr. Harper had put us back in the red.
Ralph Goodale, MP, Wascana, SK.
