Historical Context
Mr. Harper said the Conservatives did “more in three years” than the Liberals in their last 13 years in office, or than the Bloc could ever do in “113 years in opposition.”
Fair enough. After all, I think creating a deficit is at least as hard as eliminating one.
And while I expect politicians to tout their own record, I was slightly bemused by Ed Stelmach's response to the latest round of decentralization, claiming that “this is, without a doubt, the most significant policy change in the federal government in at least 25 years”.
Certainly Ed wasn’t snubbing Brian Mulroney’s termination of the evil NEP, a move which single-handedly caused the world price of oil to rise, Alberta hockey teams to win a half dozen Stanley Cups, and Alberta’s economy to rebound a short 10 years later?
I mean, wouldn’t the single most important policy change in the history of the world get top billing over an announcement that (if you read the article) may or may not reflect an actual change in policy?
Labels: Ed Stelmach, National Energy Program, Stephen Harper
posted by calgarygrit at
11:15 p.m.
15 Comments:
I certainly agree with Harper on the point that Dion needs to put up or shut up. IMO, each time Dion brings up election talk but fails to act on it he looks weaker -- no different than if you or I talked about starting a novel or quitting smoking but never got around to it. Oh Bob Rae, you will have your day yet, I think.
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 10:02 a.m.
The Liberals certainly do SOUND serious about forcing an election this time...of course they have sounded serious before.
If the Libs want to go, then I guess the focus shifts to Duceppe - he's wanted to go so far but if these by elections don't go well, it might make sense for him to stall.
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calgarygrit, at 12:12 p.m.
Jack's using every "tool" to force an election.
He hasn't gotten thru to Dion.
By
Unknown, at 3:27 p.m.
Jack's using every "tool" to force an election.
Is that as hysterically funny as I think it is, or am I reading an extra joke into it?
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 3:43 p.m.
Liberals . . still refusing to admit our defecit/debt crisis was the result of the Trudeau Liberal era and the money Cretin used to "slay" the deficit was a result of Brian's Mulroney economic and tax policies.
And although you don't sound like an Economics dork, somebody has to explain that one deficit month does not a deficit budget.
You dork, you are sounding as stupid as Steffi.
Better get out of Toronto before any real damage is done.
By
Anonymous, at 3:57 p.m.
In my independent opinion, Dan is one of the fairest and most honest bloggers among the partisan types. I agree the deficit dig was a bit dodgy, but if that's the worst he gets, well, he's still more reasonable and fair-minded than most professional journalists.
The Liberals are the only party I wouldn't currently vote for, but if they all followed Dan's lead, I'd change my mind in a cat's breath. You're seriously off the mark if you're taking him, of all the Liberal/NDP/Tory types, to task.
Besides, everyone knows that dorks are today's jocks.
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 4:10 p.m.
Liberals . . still refusing to admit our defecit/debt crisis was the result of the Trudeau Liberal era and the money Cretin used to "slay" the deficit was a result of Brian's Mulroney economic and tax policies.
Really? What was the size of Mulroney's last deficit? $45bn?
Chretien presided over some of the largest spending cuts in history - there's really no question about that.
By
JG, at 5:11 p.m.
"Liberals . . still refusing to admit our defecit/debt crisis was the result of the Trudeau Liberal era and the money Cretin used to "slay" the deficit was a result of Brian's Mulroney economic and tax policies"
Brilliant satire--Canada's Colbert!
By
Anonymous, at 7:07 p.m.
dorks are the new jocks? that's one up from today's rebel is a conservative.
By
Tarkwell Robotico, at 10:13 p.m.
At least Stelmach didn't try to quote Cicero this time...
By
Anonymous, at 12:09 a.m.
Stelmach's desperate to look like he's doing something to earn that 34% raise he helped himself to. And people are suggestible. If he tells them often enough that it's a big and important policy change, he's right to think that most people will start to believe it's so. And the words "big" and "important" will leave an impression in sleepy Joe Public's mind that Stelmach is doing something. The words start to sink in unconsciously, slowly erasing the impact of those cabinet raises and the multi-million dollar golden hanshakes to former friends at Capitol Health and the dissing of Fred Kozak's report on oil revenues, and the contempt shown for his campaign promise to get serious about homelessness, as shown in Liebert's refusal to give funding for a homeless shelter in downtown Calgary....
Marnie Tunay
http://fakirscanada.googlepages.com/
By
Anonymous, at 1:40 a.m.
So if Mulroney was responsible for Chretien's economic success...
does that mean that it was Jimmy Carter that was really responsible for "morning in America"?
Methinks the poor man needs a bit of thanks, then.
By
Demosthenes, at 7:10 p.m.
Gone are those days, Chucker, when Revenge of the Nerds was an oddball hit -- dorks are the hottest things in town now!
By
Jacques Beau Vert, at 11:49 p.m.
My god you guys are out to lunch. A "dork" is NOT, NOT "the hottest things in town now!"!!!
Dorks are useless nimrods with no social skills and pants pulled up to their armpits. They are the lowest on the cooldom scale.
Nerds are a step above Dorks in that they are very similar visually but they tend to have skills that make them moderately useful. For the most part they are amateurs who make dangerous errors in critical situations.
Geeks are the true heroes of the underculture. They can dress in that "Dorky" way but usually have enough sense to temper it with some cutting edge funk. Like nerds, Geeks have useful skills but on a level exponentially above the dilettante nerd. Geeks are the movers and shakers of the tech world and THEY are "the hottest things in town now!"
You non-geeks need to get your terms right lest you make the unforgivable error of referring to your IT crew as "Dorks" or "Nerds". Do that and your Geeks will place porn on your C: drive and report you to HR. Can you say "Fired by tomorrow morn"? (HT Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie)
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The Rat, at 12:42 p.m.
Ace, when I think of debt I let Trudeau off the hook and blame Mulroney. I think they were both over $250 billion in debt. But Trudeau's debt was paying for the schools and homes demographics necessitated. B.Mulroney's debt was precisely when surpluses should've reared, instead he had a man dedicated to enacted right-wing governments across the globe, as his Rasputin. Also, this mimics arguments about Liberal Global Warming inaction. Debt service payments weren't much around Trudeau's time. They became a big problem at B.Mulroney's watch (when boomers were middle aged).
Harper did more in 3 years than Chretein?! I want to find a mistake in Jean; seemed too perfect. Was he responsible for the bloated gun registry? He slayed, I mean slayed, a debt that threatened to bankrupt Canada. He kept (barely) Canada together in 1995, thx to a brilliant S.Dion strategy. This might not seem like much but in 100 years when the world turns into Liberal Canadians (Northern Europe is too anti-immigrant to serve as a model society), it will be looked back on as huge. He kept us out of Iraq. He signed Kyoto.
What has Harper done? He keeps weed illegal and raised the age of consent to 16, one year over when Canadians start to fornicate. I guess the lawyers judges and police are happy. Hell, the RCMP helped elect S.Harper.
By
Anonymous, at 1:04 a.m.
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