This one is really short because I am so disturbed, I can hardly write at all.
Joe Oliver is Stephen Harper’s Minister of Finance. It is on his shoulder’s the reputation of the Cons as ‘astute managers of the economy’ rides. Joe Oliver is quoted as saying that Canada is NOT in a recession and never has been. The minister is denying the very numbers his government (Stats Can) puts out. And those numbers state that we are in a recession.
If anyone is to rely on those numbers, it should be the minister of finance. If anyone claims recession or not, their statements are defined by those numbers. The Minister of Finance is either a liar, a fool or such an astute manager of the economy he does not need to use numbers to formulate economic policy, budgets or statements. Or truth.
How does any CON reconcile that INCREDIBLE lie? The Cons are so wrong on so many fronts but this is a blatant denial of the facts. Worse, these Con ‘deniers’ of facts, democracy, climate change, evolution and God-knows-what are NOT alone. Their numbers are high. Latest polls show:
| CPC | NDP | LIB | BQ | GRN | OTH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30.3% | 29.5% | 31.2% | 3.5% | 4.6% | 0.9% |
Folks, those imbeciles are gonna get back in! How is that even conceivable let alone possible?
And guess what? They might even get in with more idiots from one of the other parties like Alex Johnston, the NDP candidate who is also a SCHOOL TRUSTEE (Hamilton) who made a joke about Auschwitz but claimed no knowledge of what the name referred to. She didn’t know Auschwitz was a WW2 prison camp! HOW is that possible? She has a degree from McMaster’s, of course. She sits on the school board. Pretty smile. And she hasn’t got a bloody a clue. And – just so you know – her level of stupidity is common in the party.
And then there’s Just-in Trudeau and, I am sorry, I cannot continue without going apoplectic.
No wonder people find it hard to vote.
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It’s a well known propaganda technique that signals to the base or core support that the party will be hold the course and not change priorities. Balance probably refers to the goal of the Conservatives set to spend money according to their priorities and they often refer to that as their balanced approach thus they claim the budget is balanced. It is hard to find the exact amount of money the government spends each year to the nearest billion or more. The spin would suggest that the government budgets as the average householder budgets. Hardly. Saying the budget is balanced is pure spin just as it is to use words such as ‘dangerous’ to suggest that if you vote in the wrong party then the priorities that give the budget its current balance will alter and put Canada off course. Every time a proposal is made to undo any of the changes the Conservative have brought in we hear the code words, “That will create a deficit!” “It will kill jobs.” Canada has had eight years of deficits and continues to be in deficit. These deficits were run to create a low tax environment. If only this low tax policy had the Canadian economy growing at three percent like the USA but it isn’t. As the election nears the dog whistles will grow louder and louder. The Conservatives have no interest in being actual being prudent managers but they continue to signal that they are prudent and they will continue cutting vital services. Fisheries, the environment, First Nations, War Vets, and various other under funding to reach goals to balance the ‘budget’ (code word for smaller government)
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Gee Dave, I am affected by your rant. I suspect that my blood pressure is up too… I also think that there is a very real possibility that they will not only get in, but do so in a majority position. However, there is such a stink that not even the temporary foreign worker that Harper has brought in from Australia can make smell like chocolate.
So, I have faith. This nonsense that the CON’s are perpetrating reminds me that while they may think that they are invisible, they are simply transparent.
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Joe Oliver is just one of many lick-spittle, sycophantic, yes men, Harper has surrounded himself with.
They havent balanced a budget in years. They deny that we are in recession. hey repeat the lies via advertising every chance they get.
If Harper does win a slighty majority( which I believe he will not). it wont be due to his popularity. It will be due to the dreadful choices for the voter.
A liberal throwback to “Trudeau-mania” popularity that has lasted as long as it takes Justin to blurt out one of his ill conceived, breathless responces. Different time differnt voters.
Mulcair is genuinely popular but his party’s socialist stance and inexperience scares people. He has been sitting back expecting the polls to climb in his favour. A bad strategy with that snake Harper right beside him. He better get out and start campaigning as ruthlessly as Harper or we’re going to see another term with Herr Harper at the helm of the good ship Lollipop”.
Something I find particularly distasteful.
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I must admit that bald-faced, blatant lying has gone from subtle and veiled to open and blatant in the last few decades. In-your-face lying is a new-ish political tactic and it is not often challenged by the media….as if: ‘what else would you expect?’. The media treats lying from politicians as a given. After the debates there was a call for a computerized fact-checker banner under the speakers to confirm or deny their statements. Imagine even thinking we needed that!? They should tell the truth 100% of the time and tell it fully.
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Oliver claims that Canada is not in a recession. Why has the economic news been parsed in a way to suggest that flat growth, negative growth is not a recession? Kenny describes Canada as being in a technical recession or a definitional recession based on the language in the Conservative balanced budget legislation which refers the two consecutive quarters of no growth. Oliver is signalling that those two quarter are behind us and Canada is not currently in recession in the third quarter. The kicker is that the third quarter numbers have not been released so Oliver makes an aspirational claim projecting growth in the third quarter but no one knows for sure including Oliver.
Oliver is poor communicator and usually Kenny gives the party line.
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All of which is true…and that is the point. Truth. I personally do not think that the StatsCan numbers – for what constitutes GDP -accurately portray it but they are the numbers used and, had they been up instead of down, Oliver would have crowed as would have Harper. It is what they do. But now that they are down, they deny their validity. That is two-faced. That is denial. That is a bald-faced lie. And what now? What if the next quarter is up? Can they then say, “See, we are right!” Or can it be said in rebuttal, “Hey, no matter what the numbers say, Canadians are still feeling the pinch so we say we ARE in a recession and we don’t care what the numbers say – just as you didn’t last quarter.”
So what then is economic forecasting and reporting based on? Opinion? Mulcair’s opinion vs Harper’s? In effect, they have discredited their own system and themselves.
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Canada appears to be at the point where many Canadians do not want to hear the truth. Fact checkers do point out the omissions, equivocations, the surmises, the misinformed utterances and the outright lies. Seemingly to no avail. Discourse such as it is takes the form of slogans and boutique promises. Truth is often revealed in the actions of the parties not In their words. Look at the electoral map of Canada and it becomes evident by the projected voting patterns which policies garnered votes which have been a bust. At one time eight out of ten applicants for IE qualified but now about four out of ten qualify for IE who have applied for it. These changes in IE adversely affected Atlantic Canada and this truth is reflected in a shift in choice of party.
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Could it possibly be that Canadians are just too dumbed down to UNDERSTAND what is being said? Hmmmmm……..
It seems odd, but consider that Alex Johnstone, the masters degree holding, school trustee, NDP candidate to be an MP in parliament who could possibly be appointed as a minister for Education…OMG….had no knowledge of Auschwitz. It boggles the mind. And incumbent Con Ryan Leef dressed in camo roughing up a young woman in the Yukon bush…..where is the common sense? Where is the sanity? Don’t forget – I am using as examples the presumed cream of the crop, the ones we put forward to represent us. The smarter ones? Does that not suggest that the hoi polloi are a drooling mass of idiots? They seem to know more about their smart phone than politics, more about Sienfeld than law, more about Angelina and Brad than how to do math or read a technical manual. Honest-to-God, if all voters had to do a political skill testing question the elections would be settled with 20,000 votes – if we were lucky. Who was John A. MacDonald? If you can’t answer that one, don’t vote – the decision-making will be too hard for you.
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It reflects the americanization of Canadian culture and values. Not so long ago there was a proposal to remove Social Studies from the British Columbia grade 10, 11, & 12 Dogwood Graduation Diploma qualifications. Social Studies is not a public high school course in the USA nor is geography. We have folks who aspire to have a wing of Canadian politics like the GOP. Some want a theocracy. Some would get rid of what they call entitlements. We have those who deny global warming, climate change, scientific research and the need for environmental protection and some want no protections of any variety. Some would have very limited government perhaps just an army but little else. There was a recent case in “South Foulton, Tenn. — Firefighters stood by and watched a Tennessee house burn to the ground earlier this [year] because the homeowners didn’t pay the annual subscription fee for fire service.” Homeowner did not believe in taxes. It is not surprising “Compton” has reached the Yukon and many students have been bored by the holocaust, residential schools, the plight of refugees…and conversations about empathy. American ennui is infecting many Canadians. Many youth aspire to be athletes, pop stars, actors and of course very rich but little else. We find candidates disqualified for running for parliament because they were playing with their media devices and trolling the internet. We have politicians so confident that Canadians do not care what their policies are that they do not consult because they calculate their base does not care what they do as long as they bar the door to other aspirants and other ideas. Ignorance is bliss. keep playing Candy Crush.
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I’d say that I am sick of it Dave…but the moderator did. Ms.Whoever handled it.
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Well…… If it’s any consolation.
Apparently Harper got hammered in the French language debate tonight.
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As I don’t speak French sufficiently well to ‘get’ all that they might be saying and given that I don’t own a TV anyway, I skipped the debate in favour of savour – my friend’s gourmet 75th birthday dinner was way more appealing. In fact, my friend’s dogs breakfast would be more appealing. The ‘niqab’ debate…fer Pete’s sake! As if the nation was held spellbound by grown men (and Liz) waxing fluently in French about religious fashion. OMG! One of them should have said, “With respect to all, I do not believe the Canadian public could give a flying except where the issue is illustrative of a Conservative mindset that so is all-controlling and dictatorial that it fixates on what clothing Canadians wear when it is clear to me that being able to afford clothing is the bigger issue.”
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I guess the “niqab” debate emphasizes the undercurrent of xenophobia in Quebec….The libs and the NDP are willing to pander to the racists in Quebec.
Harper just kept droning on about “safety and security” and if the latest polls are correct……the silent majority in Canada feel the same way.
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As Bart says, ” “Don’t have a cow, Man!”
“I didn’t do it.”
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