Blue Like You

Archive for September 17th, 2008

The Post’s Kelly McParland has a handy summary of campaign promises from all three top federal parties.

He points out that Harper’s announcements are not really ‘promises’ because "most were accounted for in earlier budgets and won’t add measurably to existing obligations."

Stephane Dion and Jack Layton’s never-ending list of promises is another matter. Where is that money coming from?

McParland doubts that Dion would consider deficit financing, because "Mr. Dion has taken to flaying Mr. Harper for going too far in reducing the surplus." So that would be hypocritical, right?

However, a Globe report points out that he was reluctant to utter the actual words, although he finally did when pressed.

Harper wasted no time pointing out the lack of responsibility concerning these promises:

…Prime Minister Stephen Harper also levelled an attack at the Liberal "dream team" that has joined Stephane Dion on the campaign trail, singling out Bob Rae’s economic record as the NDP premier of Ontario and broadening his criticism of Dion on the issue of running a deficit.

"If you look at the tens of billions of dollars of announcements they are making, the only way these can be financed are not simply through big increases in taxes that they are already promising, but it would mean deficits and large deficits," Harper said. "We will not go into deficit. That’s the underpinning, the central plank of our policy of fiscal responsibility."

"Bob Rae and the NDP took a slowdown (in Ontario) and turned it into the biggest recession in 50 years," Harper said…

Adam Taylor of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation advises caution when politicians make all these pie-in-the-sky promises (Beware of big-spending politicians… CTV).

First of all, we are all likely quite cynical about whether or not a politician would actually keep his or her word, but even if they did Taylor feels we should be worried due to the current economic situation. (BTW, please read what he says about the Green Shift being "revenue neutral".)

A politician proposing a fiscally prudent approach might be the more responsible one, but may not garner the same attention.

I guess it all boils down to how much we allow them to bribe us with our own money that we may not even have.

Or maybe we really are stupid.

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Update : Reid has done some serious work here  - Revised: Costing the Liberal Promises.

Wudrick Blog - Just One Question

I just wanted to take a brief break from the Federal Election to point out a terrific column by Jim Coyle - Ontario Party Leaders Deal Harshly with Dissent.

It’s a very non-partisan article critiquing the apparent need of both Dalton McGuinty and John Tory to squash any dissent in their respective caucuses, to the point where elected MPPs are reduced to "utterers of scripted talking points, toadies to a leader’s delusions of grandeur, and slavish admirers of a naked emperor."

Coyle  illustrates the delicate balance between party unity and honest communication. If MPPs’ legitimate concerns are stifled within a private caucus meeting, that can’t be good for anyone.

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Thursday Update: Ont. MPP turfed from Tory caucus - CNEWS.