Saturday, April 23, 2011

Are the Conservatives sound fiscal managers?

One of the claims by Harper is that he should be allowed to stay in power because he is a sound fiscal manager. I do not believe that his vision of his leadership in this area is true. Gordon Wilson on April 1, 2011 in a post on his blog takes the time and offers proof that Harper is not a sound fiscal manager, please read his post here

At the beginning of his post Gordon Wilson says:
"One such myth is that Conservative governments tend to be leaner in spending and better for the Canadian economy than their Liberal counterparts. For example, there is a myth that the economic policies of the Stephen Harper government are better for us Canadians than what we would face under the “fiscally irresponsible” Liberals.

There is not a single statistic relevant to average Canadians that support that claim"

He goes on to offer proof of his position in the rest of the post and having a background in Economics, I found his post interesting and well developed, you may as well.

The other issue I have with Mr. Harper is his need to control and to reward his friends, as illustrated by this story in the Globe and Mail on April 20th, by Daniel LeBlanc Harper defends spokesman accused of meddling in port appointment Quoting from the story LeBlanc says:

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said it was perfectly “normal” for his office to repeatedly pressure the board of directors of the autonomous Montreal Port Authority to appoint a specific candidate as president
NDP Leader Jack Layton, who was campaigning in Southwestern Ontario, described interference by the Prime Minister’s Office in the port authority appointment as more proof Ottawa is broken.

“Here’s yet another example of the Conservatives appointing their friends, people close to the government getting the cushy jobs and the powerful positions," the NDP Leader said. "I thought Stephen Harper said he was going to change all that five years ago.”

Mr. LeBlanc goes on to quote Michael Fortier, the minister of public works and the Conservative lieutenant for Montreal at the time of the Montreal appointment, said his office contacted port officials and urged them to disregard any political pressure. Fortier was one of Harper's top man in Quebec and he who chose to speak out against the Federal interference:

Mr. Fortier’s comments, obtained as part of a joint investigation by The Globe and Radio-Canada, amount to an unusual rebuke by a former cabinet minister who felt actions by Mr. Harper’s staff did not reflect positions staked out by the Prime Minister.

Bernard Côté, a former staffer in Mr. Fortier’s office, said Mr. Soudas called him afterward and told him to back off.

The tone was aggressive and there were no pleasantries exchanged,” Mr. Côté said. “He asked me why I was getting involved in the Prime Minister’s nominations.”

I suggest that Mr. Harper is a vindictive man who does not liked to be challenged and would do great harm to the vision of Canada that most of us have, and my hope is that he is refused his majority.

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