Canada Needs a YouCut Program

Will a Canadian Member of Parliament have the courage to introduce an initiative such as YouCut to encourage Canadians to democratically put a dent in the federal deficit?
Published on May 30, 2011

According to the Economist Magazine’s world debt map, Canada has an unfathomable $1,229,958,904,110 in public debt. That works out to $37,907.08 of public debt per person.

While the public debt figures are so astronomical that they are beyond comprehension, we have seen and felt the effects of governments running deficit budgets. Taxpayers bear the burden of government spending so it is important that the spending is not reckless and unsustainable.

It may seem daunting to put a dent in the deficit, but Rep. Eric Cantor, the Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, has an idea of how to do it.

Last year he initiated the YouCut program:

YouCut – a first-of-its-kind project – is designed to defeat the permissive culture of  runaway spending in Congress. It allows you to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House enact. Each week that the        House is in session, we will take the winning item and offer it to the full House for an up-or-down vote, so that you can see where your representative stands on your priorities.

When we launched YouCut over a year ago, we could have never imagined how enthused people were by the effort, how engaged they became, and how successful the program would be in achieving its mission of changing the culture of spending into a culture of  savings. Millions of votes were cast across the country to encourage the House to cut spending, and that is exactly what we continue to do. Now, as our new majority continues to work to cut spending and grow our economy, it’s time to transform YouCut to its next phase. Take a moment to review the options and vote on which spending cut you believe should be sponsored by the YouCut program.

If a simple online voting program can result in billions of savings through cuts, then this would be well worth it.

Will a Canadian Member of Parliament have the courage to introduce an initiative such as YouCut to encourage Canadians to democratically put a dent in the federal deficit?

What would be the first federal budget item that you would cut if it were up to you?

To view a video of Rep. Eric Cantor introducing YouCut, click here.

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