Biggest story yesterday was, without a doubt, the eHealth auditor’s report on a $1B WASTE of OUR MONEY. That was, in fact, the biggest news story this week. On Wednesday morning, the Ottawa Citizen (a CanWest newspaper) reported on David Caplan’s weasley resignation over eHealth on PAGE 4 in a sub-sub column type story, buried far away from the front page. I thought: OK, it’s a CanWest paper. They don’t like to talk dirty about ANY liberal.  Strike one.

So then came on Global TV News (CanWest again) with Kevin Newman, live from Toronto, on Thursday evening. Lead story? How the CONSERVATIVES are NOT ACCOUNTABLE for the stimulus program with their ‘vague’ Action Plan website with only ballpark numbers, and how in the States it is all so wonderful with fancy websites with all the information you could ever need on their stimulus packages, down to the cent. We got to see some Liberal MP, aide by the side, you know, to provide him with some much needed ideas, staring at a computer screen and commenting on how the Economic Action Plan website is misleading Canadians and withholding the truth. Then they tracked down John Baird, and his explanation was simple: (paraphrasing) “That website they have in the US cost them 65 million dollars, we’d rather put that money into roads”. There, end of the story. A non-story, really. Why did they open with this story as opposed to the Billion Dollar Scandal in Ontario? Simple, so we can now ease into the liberal un-friendly story with the following line: “… and another example of what can happen when Governments are not held accountable: in Ontario a report came out today on eHealth, the Ontario Government’s…”. ANOTHER EXAMPLE? You’re equating a blatantly incompetent McGuinty Goverment’s 1 BILLION DOLLAR WASTE to a website that only lists ballpark figures of money actually spent and got something for it? And those are BOTH examples of what can happen when Governments are not held accountable?

Strike two.

This morning, I open the Citizen. Granted, they (finally) have the eHealth story on the front page. However, my eye caught a story further on in the paper: “PM appoints 5 judges with Tory links“. And I thought: funny how I never read: “Chretien appoints 5 judges with Liberal links” back in the nineties. It was just “PM appoints 5 new judges”.

With the polls clearly indicating that Canadians are moving away from Liberals and towards Conservatives, it is no wonder CanWest is losing money: you can’t bet on a losing horse and expect to make money.

So the budget’s out. Billions and billions in spending and tax cuts. I would like more tax cuts than spending, but hey, we’re in a minority government and we can’t just do it our way. (I would also do away with 230 million for the Arts, but we all know how a measely $48 million worked out in the past).

This budget is obviously heavily geared towards appeasing the Liberals: moderate tax cuts, investments in jobs, subsidies, low income, infrastructure. It has nothing for the NDP because, well frankly, they would vote it down regardless, and they didn’t bring any suggestions to the table, so why would there be anything in there for the NDP? The Liberals didn’t bring anything official to the table, but at least they let everybody know what they would like in it, so I guess the CPC watched the evening news and got the message.

Layton, who sported a green tie matching his green brain, turned it down without even reading it. He didn’t like the fact the Throne Speech was less than four pages (he would rather drone on and on and on and waste a whole day on reading it) and so the budget couldn’t be much better. “The bad stuff in there is not good, and if there’s good stuff, we don’t trust them to actually implement it” is a wonderful stance to take Jackie! Has anybody ever told Jack the role of the opposition is not to just oppose everything the government does?

Jack wants his stuff in the budget, or he’ll vote against. I guess it’s “My Way or the Highway” for Jackie.

Iggy meanwhile, said he had to look at the polls sleep on it to see if the budget was good enough, and today he came back with some changes. He likes the budget, but it didn’t implement all of the Liberals suggestions, so there’s a blackmail ultimatum on the table.

Iggy wants his stuff in the budget, or he’ll vote against. I guess it’s “My Way or the Highway” for Iggy.

Gilles just dismissed it right out as “there’s nothing in there for us”, meaning no money for Quebec specifically, and as such, he can’t vote for it.

Gilles wants his stuff in the budget, or he’ll vote against. I guess it’s “My Way or the Highway” for Gilles.

It seems the only one not going the “My Way or the Highway” route is Harper, wich is ironic of course, since he’s the only one being accused of doing just that.

All Hail The President-Elect! He has surrounded Himself with an intellectual team other countries dare not dream of! In fact, according to Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen columnist, Canada does not have what it takes–and never will–but perhaps Harper could look at Ignatieff, our Greatest Thinker, for some “thinking” inspiration. If “Determined Determination” is a sign of things to come, hold on to your hats folks, there will be some eye-poppin’ thinkin’ comin’ from that Hill!

I am not an economist. In fact, the last time I took economics in school, Keynesian Economics was taught. Things have changed since then. But it seems clear to me, that in this global credit crisis, which is caused by government overspending and extending too  much credit to people who cannot afford it, that extending more credit is not the answer.

The Government’s role is to make sure the economy keeps rolling along. Left leaning governments do it, generally speaking, by raising taxes and spending more on social programs. They, generally speaking, want to have more of a hand in the marketplace. Right leaning governments do it, generally speaking, by lowering taxes and allowing the citizens to keep more of their money to spend as they wish (and spend it they will). The marketplace, according to them, will take care of itself.

And so we come to Canada. Canada is just on the brink of plunging into a recession. Mostly because of global economic woes, the financial trouble of our main trading partner, the United States, and also because Canadians too, have been overextending their credit. (As a side note, a recession is an inevitable part of our natural economic curve: it’ll come regardless of what governments do).

The Harper Government should be about less government spending, leaving more money with the people to spend as they wish (and again, spend it they will). It should be about less credit and more cold hard cash. Credit is what gets you into trouble, everybody knows that. First, the Canadian Government gave $25B to Canada’s banks to secure “shaky” mortgages, so that the banks had more cash on hand to, you guessed it, be able to extend more credit. Now there’s talk about bailing out the Big Three, private, foreign owned companies that make automobiles (bailout means: extend more credit to restructure), and as recent as yesterday, an announcement of going into a $30B deficit in the next four years, spending cartloads of cash on infrastructure. A $30B deficit means the government is operating on more credit.

Interfering  in private business, increasing government spending, securing loans, does that sound like a right leaning government to you? No, it sounds like Liberal and NDP policies. Giving money to GM and Chrysler comes straight from Layton’s Book of Poor Economics, and speeding up infrastructure spending is straight from the Liberal Book of Doing Something to Accomplish Nothing. Even Flaherty’s Economic Panel is a Liberal plan.

So we have a right leaning government currently implementing left leaning policies to crawl out of a left-created hole. Why? Because of the threat of a coalition government taking over? Public pressure? Have we all been bombarded with so much left-leaning MSM messages that we believe stimulus packages are all that is needed to get out of this crisis? Referring to the title of this post, the Coalition has already pushed through their main objectives and as such, are controlling what the government is doing, and as a result, ARE governing. The threat of overthrowing the government has paid off.

…

I have highlighted more credit throughout this post. Because more credit is what governments across the world throw at the current financial crisis to try to solve it. Again, I am not an economist, but it seems to me that in times where money is short, you cannot spend you way out of a shortfall on borrowed cash. That’s such poor economics, it could have sprung from the mind of Jack Layton.

Maybe a year or two with no available credit will make Canadians actually only spend what they have and maybe pay off some of their debt (at least not add to it).  It will make them go back to the things that are important and cut out the things that are not. I know I am. 

And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

The country is facing a recession, people of all stripes are cutting back on their expenses, some are losing money on their RRSPs, gauging (more like fleecing) at the pumps, people are losing jobs left and right, yet the Liberals, NDP and Bloc are against capping their salaries, cutting their expense accounts and want to hold on to their entitlements.  “We must work together to make this parliament work for the Canadian people” has changed to “I don’t want to give up my $1.95 per vote and a pay hike”. Thanks Jackie, Stephane and Gilles. Glad you’re working for us. Glad you’re chippin’ in.

Now it’s either another election with Mr. Money vs Mr. Broke, Mr. Poor and Mr. Stupid, or a coalition government between Mr. Am I Prime Minister now or Tuesday?, Mr. Kitchen Table and Mr. Separatist. Lovely.

These people live in such lala-land it is unbelievable.

So, what other things you have been saying during the campaign that have now proven to be untrue? Or, in other words, what other things has Mr Harper said during the campaign, that you said were lies, turn out to be true?

Yes, Dion held his L O N G awaited press conference yesterday, after HIDING OUT for nearly a week. Saying he’ll step down, but stay on for now (?). He blames everything on himself, but mostly on a number of other things (is that possible? It’s like a shirt is 100% cotton, AND some wool h/t Seinfeld), such as:

1. The Conservatives’ giant war chest
2. The Liberals’ small war purse
3. The Conservatives painted a bad image of him he could not shake
4. The Conservatives said his Green Shift plan was a “Tax”, neglecting to mention the matching income tax cuts.

So, for #1 and #2, you have no-one to blame but yourself: you are the leader of the party and as such in charge of bringing in the donations. Just because others are better at fund raising doesn’t mean they were the cause of your demise; #3: Harper=Bush, Soldiers in our Streets, Harper is a Liar, Harper lives in a ‘bubble’, Harper is dishonest. ‘Nuff said. #4. Sorry, but it isn’t the Conservatives interest to sell YOUR plan to YOUR voters. I think everybody in Canada knows that. Everybody, except one, apparently.

In all of this, past year not showing up for votes in the House, and this election disaster, Mr. Dion still hasn’t stepped past his Parisian snootiness. It’s my fault, but really, it’s those meanies across the isle! He claims to be stepping down for the good of the party, but in the same breath he says he’ll stay on for another 8 months, no doubt to collect his hefty MP salary to be able to pay off his own personal debt.

Well, well. Mr. “I am not a quitter” Quits. Who’s the liar now, Mr. Snooty?

Let’s face it: Harper did not get a majority due to the following facts:

1. The boneheads in Newfoundland who voted for equalization handouts even though they are a “have province” now. They would rather risk a carbon tax on their precious oil than to finally take their place in confederation and pay towards this country.
2. The idiots in Quebec who vote for the Bloc and thus for separation. In particular the idiots in Gatineau who mostly work for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and would surely lose their jobs should their party of choice succeed in its goal and separate.
3. The idiots in downtown Toronto; How ANYBODY in Ontario can vote for Bob Rae, I will never understand. Another vote for hand-outs. Lovely.
4. 59% turnout. It’s a shame.

And there you have it. Last night’s election results.

Yes, the Ottawa Citizen endorses Harper . Not because he’s such a great guy with a great party, but they feel we need to keep the steady course. Congratulations on finally getting it!

This comes in stark contrast to its columnists who have tried very hard in this campaign to ween us away from the Conservatives:

Randall Denley: Harper just pandering to voters with crime policies, Harper’s problem is not lack of empathy, but lack of credibility, Harper fails to lose bully image

Janice Kennedy : Putting families on the ballot, National unity? Who cares?

To all the people who laughed at PMSH’s statement that now is perhaps a good time to pick up some bargain stock: you think this is a party leader who is “out of touch” with the electorate and doesn’t know what the electorate wants to hear. I tell you this: these words came from a Prime Minister who holds a Masters’ Degree in Economics. These words did not come from a party leader who wants to be re-elected (although that is naturally what he wants). Mr. Harper is an economist first, politician second. As an economist AND PM you have to avoid panic in the stock market at all cost. In times of economic uncertainty, when stock markets are crashing, the best thing to do is to try to get people to BUY stock, not SELL them. Selling your stock will just increase the rate the stock market will go down. The only way to reverse a massive sell off of stock (ie: the market going down) is to BUY stock (ie. market going up). This is BASIC ECONOMICS. Shouting doom off the rooftops saying “We’re tanking!” is extremely irresponsible for a Leader of a country (and isn’t that what our Opposition ‘leaders’ strive to be?) It just creates panic resulting in a massive sell-offs of stock which in turn will make them worth even less. If the opposition leaders would set aside their desire to be elected for a minute, and take into account the well being of all Canadians, they’d have to conclude the same thing: saving this economy is more important that any one individual’s election. Harper is doing what it takes to save this economy, even if it means lower polling numbers. He says it would be irresponsible of him to create a panic even though that is what the electorate wants to hear and would improve his standings.

The fundamentals of the Canadian economy are very strong. They only thing going wrong with our economy currently is that the stock markets are going south (no pun intended). The Canadian People want to hear Harper say what he is going to do about it. Well, the only way to stop a stock market from going down is to MAKE PEOPLE BUY STOCK. Isn’t that what he is saying? If any of the opposition ‘leaders’ had any formal training in economics, and not a week long crash course on it, they would know that. I think they do know that, however, they’ve put their own selfish election chances over the fortunes of the Canadian People. They shout doom and gloom, creating a panic resulting in economic woes, in order to get their own behind into the PM’s chair. PM Harper has done the exact opposite!

If the opposition ‘leaders’ were serious leadership material, they’d realise the PM’s first and foremost responsibility is the stabilizing of the economy.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what Harper has been doing for the past year and a half. That is why we don’t have bail-outs for banks and big investment firms. That is why our inflation is still below 4%. That is why we have a job gain of 87,000 jobs in 2008 so far. That is why the IMF projected Canada to lead the G7 in economic growth next year.  And that, is why we have to continue with his successful strategy.

From The Star, December 21, 2007:

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper expects Canada’s economy to suffer next year, buffeted by turmoil south of the border and the “cost” of new climate-change measures here at home.

In a calculated signal to Canadians, Harper said that 2008 will be “more challenging” for his government and the country.

“There remains very serious economic uncertainty in the United States and in other parts of the world, and it’s impossible for me to see how Canada can be entirely immune from those developments,” he said in a year-end interview with the Star.

While Harper has warned of uncertainty before, this is his strongest statement yet that economic problems will hit Canada in what many expect to be an election year.

As a result, Harper said the government is planning a “stand-pat” budget aimed at stability.

“We will have very much a stand-pat fiscal stance focused on stability, focused on paying down debt, which is what families and businesses do when they face a period of some uncertainty,” he said.

His warnings came as the International Monetary Fund downgraded its economic growth forecast for Canada to somewhat less than the 2.3 per cent it forecast just three months ago.

In the United States, housing and credit woes have sparked fears of a full-blown recession. Earlier this month, TD economists warned that Canadian economic growth will “slow materially” in the months ahead.

In Canada, a rising loonie has accelerated the loss of thousands of high-paying manufacturing jobs. Ontario’s manufacturing sector has been particularly hard hit, with the loss of 44,000 jobs in the first nine months of this year.

Harper also warned that climate-change measures that take effect next year “will start to bite.

“It will hit home the reality that you cannot reduce greenhouse gas – you cannot mandate it – without there being some economic cost in the short term,” Harper said.

“We happen to believe we’ve set it up so that those costs are manageable, so that we provide incentives for firms and sectors to exploit the technology opportunities that this regime requires,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is it will cost.”

The Prime Minister sat down with the Star this week at his official residence at 24 Sussex Drive. Sitting in the living room, a large Christmas tree behind him, he reflected on the year past and the year ahead.

Harper said the Canadian economy is “probably the strongest it’s been in 30 years” with low unemployment and has shown “considerable resiliency in the face of some worrying signs around the world.”

And he argued that his government has tried to put the Canadian economy on a good footing, most recently with the fall economic update that provided cuts to income and business taxes to “strengthen the confidence of consumers and families, and also strengthen Canada’s position as a place to invest.”

But because of fears of a slowdown, Harper said such largesse would not be repeated in the budget expected in February or March.

“This government will be very cautious when it comes to fiscal actions. … As I said we’ve taken our tax measures for the budget … this government will not be throwing billions of dollars around in the spring,” Harper said.

This obviously comes from a man who has been on the pulse of the economy for a very long time. As opposed to Dion, whose idea of a plan for the economy came to him during the English debate (about 24 days into a campaign) where he pledged to have 30 days of meetings to come up with a plan. Some plan. “Harper doesn’t have a plan!”, no, you confused him with you! What you mean to say is that YOU don’t have a plan!

Layton, on the other hand, has a plan, but unfortunately, to pay for his plan he intends to roll back (read: raise) corporate taxes by $50B. Someone ought to sit down with Jack at his kitchen table and tell him that corporations (businesses) are what keep this economy rolling and keep a lot of people employed. Especially the Alberta oil sands. Raising their taxes will surely slow down the economy and lose a lot of jobs.

Little Miss Sunshine from The Green Party want to “green” the economy. Buy less from the US (I am sure they’ll be thrilled with that and cut back the 80% of our products they buy), and re-establish the national dream, that is railroads (I’m not making this up, this is in their “economy” section).

I don’t care what the Bloc says.

There you have it folks, you can chose between a guy who has been seriously talking about the economy for years, versus: 1) a man who needs 30 days to come up with a plan, 2) a man who will tax this economy to a grinding halt, 3) a woman who dreams in green, and 4) a separatist who wants to tear this country apart.

Take your pick. I know who I’m voting for.

Candidate Bob Rae issued a warning that Layton and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May are robbing votes from the Liberals and as a result, are actually strengthening the Conservatives’ chances.

Bob, you’re all on the left, and judging by the debates, you’re all battling a common ‘enemy’! Of course you’re “robbing votes” off each other. All parties are constantly “robbing” votes off each other. There are not any more voters now than 20 days ago. It is the same pool. They go from party to party. That’s how the system works!

“We know for certain that if Stephen Harper had been Prime Minister five years ago we would have troops in Iraq,” Rae said.

Um, if Ignatieff was the leader of the Liberals 5 years ago, we’d be there too.

And if you were Prime Minister, this country would be bankrupt within the year.

If I was the PM and I was at the French debates I’d say:

To Gilles Duceppe: Can I finish my sentence for once?
To Jack Layton: How come you sound like a Scot, and I sound effeminate?
To Stephane Dion: Can you take a stand on something? I know Rae and Iggy are not here, but geez. You can’t even say if you’re for or against a our crime bill. At least Jack said he’s fundamentally against so he’ll vote against. You say “we’ll see”.
To the moderator: They have four minutes to pile on me, and I have 1 minute for rebuttal. Why are we sitting around a giant guitar pick? Do I have to sit next to the passion flaky? Why am I facing a three headed firing squad? Why is my back to the camera in the overhead shots, and the firing squad is facing the audience?
To Elizabeth May: God, you’re annoying. You remind me of Jar Jar Binks (”Global Warming comin dees way: Meesa Gonna Die!”) I hope so…

And that is why I would never be a PM. But that’s OK.

The debates

Wouldn’t it be fun if, at the debates, whenever someone says something really stupid (and the chance of that is pretty high, with Dion, Layton, Duceppe AND May in the same room), that Harper looks into the camera a la Jim Helpert of The Office with a look of “What am I supposed to do with this?!?”.

That’s what I want out of these debates.

President Ken Lewenza of the CAW, Canada’s largest private sector union, asked his members to vote strategically to stop a Harper majority from becoming a reality.

“Stopping a Stephen Harper majority is one of the most important challenges progressive Canadians have ever faced” — Ken Lewenza

In this story, it is obvious he blames the Tory Government, rather than the fact that people do not want  trucks and SUVs anymore, for closures in the Ford plants, GM plants and numerous auto parts plants.

He wants his members to vote Liberal or NDP depending on your riding. Hmm.. Liberals want to put a carbon tax on every auto plant out there, making cars more expensive (read: layoffs). The NDP wants to tax “big corporations”, like, say, GM and Ford (read: layoffs). The Conservatives are the only ones proposing tax cuts for corporations, so I don’t really see his motivation here.

I said it before, the closure of those plants has nothing to do with government: it has to do with the lack of foresight and market research by the ‘big three’: Ford, GM and Chrysler. They did not realise people were switching to smaller, more fuel efficient cars until it was too late. Toyota and Honda, on the other hand, clued in a long time ago, and are actually building new plants in Ontario.

“Now is not the time to do something new, wild or stupid” (Stephen Harper).

Dion finally gets it: it’s all about the economy. A full 18 days AFTER Harper started talking about the economy, Dion is finally on the same page, and then has the audacity to say “It’s the economy, ” [waives hands] “Stephen”. Is this guy not embarrassed? Who does he think he’s fooling?

Jackie proposes a brand new, expensive to run, Ministry of Consumer Affairs. Is this what Harper means when he says “new, wild and stupid”?

Five Ottawa Liberal candidates ganged up on Ottawa-West candidate John Baird yesterday, saying he meddled in municipal affairs by intervening in the Light Rail project. They say the Federal Government should not meddle in municipal affairs, and then, in an ironic twist, proceeded by laying out THEIR terms for the Ottawa Light Rail project.

Another good day for conservatives: a great economic speech by Harper, an embarrassing moment for Dion, Layton talks kitchen tables, Gilles stands by his “fresh meat” comment, and May hasn’t been heard from.