A couple of us were talking about Wednesday’s speech by Industry Minister Maxime Bernier. When researching the text of the speech, I noticed that the Minister had a recent speech announcing the Bovine Mastitis Research Network. Maybe it’s just me, but that kind of research is not the kind of thing you would normally associate with Industry Canada.
As noted earlier in the week, in his telecom speech at the Economic Club of Toronto, the Minister said:
…many people believe that it is up to the government to bring about economic growth. As one once said, such a view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: if it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. This is not a view that I share.
With reference to the Minister’s interest in bovine research, if it moos, would we still tax it?