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Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is trying to pose as a deficit fighter; he is positioning himself as the man who will bring back the surplus. This is good news for Canada in that both major political parties agree that the deficit is now a bad thing (even though they previously agreed that it is a good thing), but there is a problem of credibility.
Dr. Ignatieff lays claim to a Liberal heritage of deficit slaying and surpluses in the Chrétien/Martin years. The problem with such a claim is that most, if not all, the leadership of that era is gone. It would be like today’s Blue Jays assuring fans that they can win the World Series because they did it back in the early 90s. The current players matter more than the institutional history.
The current Liberal Party has to show that it is serious about deficit cutting. They have said that they have to ‘reconsider’ pass Liberal campaign promises, but does that include recent commitments such as money for those who take care of the elderly? If Dr. Ignatieff really wants to prove a dedication to ending the deficit then he needs to be honest. He needs to acknowledge that until the deficit is dealt with ANY new spending is off the table.
In a way the verdict is not yet out on the Liberal Party’s credibility on deficits. So far they have been talking out of both sides of their mouths. On one hand they have been demanding an end to the deficit, on the other they have been calling for more spending. But that is pretty standard procedure for an opposition party. I am keeping an open mind for Dr. Ignatieff to demonstrate the sort of fiscal manager that he plans to be.
Now it is up to Michael Ignatieff to convince me and my fellow voters.
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4 comments:
That IS good that he is positioning himself as such. Wasn't Jim Flaherty's next budget going to do this ?.
Freezing the taxation of business to pay for new social programs does not seem the act of a tax fighter.
It smells like NDP-socialism of tacking left in 1990's by Donolo.
National government "tax-fighter" would be Reagen-Thatcher.
Chretien-Martin did reduce some taxes at the federal level but they increased and eliminated many programs by offloading to provinces.
This recession was different than the earlier ones.
Employment declined much faster in the early months of the current economic downturn than it did in the early months of the recessions in 1981 and 1990. However, employment levels in the next seven months of this current downturn were relatively stable, while employment had continued to decline in previous downturns.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/091112/dq091112a-eng.htm
Under Chretien/Martin the Liberals had 8 straight years of NO DEFICIT and reduced the debt. Harper squandered this and is running the largest deficits in Canadian history. Even Flaherty came out the other day and revelaed that he either lied or misjudged the size of the deficit and it is now bigger and uglier than he originally announced. $55 BILLION!!! The "right" likes to say that they are better economic managers but the facts say otherwise. Harper cannot control spending and despite being an "economist" is incapable of balancing the books.
I can only assume that you think that record deficits are "sound economic planning". If other Conservatives think like you it is easy to see why we are in such horrible financial shape. You guys have no idea what you are talking about.
The real question is: why is it okay to Conservatives to run big deficits?
The reality is that you must increase tax revenues or cut spending, or some combination of both in order to balance the budget. You are against the Liberal approach but Flaherty has not announced how he is going to do it or why it takes 6 years to get there. It only took him run to get to the record deficit.
You seem to be advocating that $6 billion in tax cuts is good. That will make the deficit a new record of $61 Billion. Is it the Tory plan to keep running record deficits? Clearly, there must be some combination of tax raising and spending reduction.
You blog is so simplistic. You have no clue what you are talking about and are a reckless partisan. It is more important to you to bash liberals than to have sound policy. Then you put lipstick on the Tory finacial disaster by saying they are sound finacila managers. In what reality are you guys living in?
Anon,
You have clearly never read my blog before. I have been calling the Harper government to task for years for their bad economic policies for years. Try not to make dumb assumptions.
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