Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Tories Red Budget

Maybe it was all those Red Fridays that finally got to the Conservatives.

Cause according to their fans over at the Blogging Tories this budget was a Liberal one.

How is the Conservative budget playing with Conservatives?

As I said here.

Even their fan club in the mass media gave them thumbs down. Ottawa Sun Scoffs at the Budget

But you know the Conservatives have become the mushy middle when the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, those scions of the right who never saw a tax or spending cut they didn't like, heck Harpers right hand;Jason Kenney used to work for them, denounced the budget because it didn't do enough for the poor!!!! According to the interview with spokesperson John Williamson on CPAC last night.

"Not providing broad-based tax relief is a problem because it means that not all Canadians are enjoying the fiscal dividend that's coming from a rising surplus and savings on debt interest," said Williamson.

The corporate shill lobby denounces the Conservatives for forgetting low income Canadians. But what they really didn't like was this; Notably absent was a measure targeting the wealthier segment of the population, a reduction of taxes on capital gains.

Better to complain about the budget not helping the poor than whining about not getting your corporate tax cut.

"This is hard to distinguish from a Liberal government budget," the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's Mr. Williamson said. "It's the second-highest spending increase in dollar terms since the books were balanced in 1997-1998."

Yep Canada truly is a social democratic country when the Republicanadian right wing denounces their own government.

Irresponsible, unconservative
Don't say taxes high, then table socialist budget

And the Conservatives recognized that with their budget and all the blustering by Flaherty about representing Canadian values .
Fiscal conservatism takes a holiday

Terence Corcoran, Financial Post

Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The truck driver, the bank teller, the retiree. The salesperson, the farmer, fisherman. ... We cannot worry about what they say about us around the boardroom tables, but we must care what they talk about at the kitchen tables.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, at a Conservative Party convention, Saturday, March 17, 2007

Ahh, the old populist ploy. The farmer versus the businessman, the kitchen table versus the boardroom table. The literal juxtaposition isn't as important as the symbolism. Nobody expects or wants a government that runs on corporate power, so why bother raising the subject? Simple: What Mr. Harper was appealing to is the age-old collectivist code, big business versus the people, the rich versus the poor and the struggling workers.

No other explanation for Mr. Harper's comments is plausible. It is also the explanation that does more to help us understand yesterday's budget, a massive, unconservative and fiscally irresponsible expansion of government.



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1 comment:

Jerry Prager said...

Surely this is just Mulroney and the Ontario Blue Machine heping Stephen gear up for the election ?

As soon as he made his batch of sleazy appointments in the first week he was in office this outcome was inevitable. Stephen wants power. Not because he wants to do anything with the power, but because he wants to be remembered like Mulroney.

And he will be, he'll be recalled for having had the principles of an uber-opportunist.