For years the Liberals warned you of Stephen Harper’s hidden agenda. Just wait until he gets a majority, and you won’t recognize Canada. For years, Conservatives quietly whispered to their base that they couldn’t go as far as they wanted because of that damn minority government. The Liberals won’t let
Continue readingTag: Jim Flaherty
Canadian Progressive World: Harper Conservatives Target Registered Charities
So far, the Conservative government’s fear-mongering has targeted anti-capitalism movements, environmentalists, Aboriginal groups, activists, foreign special interest groups, so-called “issue-based terrorists” and other imaginary “enemies of the state”. Now add registered Canadian charities to the hit list. Charities registered in … Continue reading →
Continue readingImpolitical: Flaherty to seniors on #OAS
At the 1:30 mark and onwards, Flaherty gives an answer on his OAS age eligibility increase that is receiving some attention tonight. Two callers to the CPAC call-in show that ended at 10:00 p.m. EST remarked on Flaherty’s comment being rude. In tone, the way he emphasized the word “poor”
Continue readingLeDaro: Jim Flaherty ready to deliver Budget speech
Poor Flaherty! Finance portfolio, too big shoes to fill. What to expect? Read CBC story.
Continue readingImpolitical: The greatest show on earth
The big budget circus happens today. The big item, not to be lost sight of among all the other baubles that will be in the window, is in the headline here: “Conservative’s budget to reset retirement at age 67.” It’s a legacy choice by Stephen Harper, he will be the
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: Meh…
Count me amongst the 54% of Canadians who, according to a recent poll, rather cynically believe that the so-called “robocall scandal” is just “politics as usual” and therefore nothing terribly exceptional to be all that bothered about. Certainly nothing warranting an outraged, pant-bunching reaction such as that demonstrated on left-wing
Continue readingImpolitical: Mystery budget on its way
The budget date was set yesterday, finally, for March 29th, possibly as a bit of a distraction from all things robocall. This should be good: Flaherty said Wednesday the budget will not lay out in specifics where the government plans to find between $4 billion and $8 billion in annual
Continue readingImpolitical: Flaherty changing his budget tune?
Flaherty seems to have found a new word for his upcoming budget: The federal budget expected in mid-March will focus on “moderate” measures to cut government spending and encourages provinces to do the same, he said. “We are not one of the countries, many of them in Europe, that have
Continue readingImpolitical: More budget homework for Flaherty
This is a story that may have been glossed over in the past few days but is worth noting: “Rating Firms Question Canada's Planned Budget Cuts.” Two of the major ratings agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, are warning the Harper government away from large budget cutting plans: Steven Hess, Moody’s lead
Continue readingImpolitical: Austerity for thee, not for me
This is the kind of thing that just doesn’t help when a Prime Minister is eyeing Old Age Security benefits for cuts: “Despite goal of restraint, Harper’s top bureaucrats rack up hefty travel costs.” Terrible optics and poor timing on that one. Elsewhere on the pensions issue, if you missed
Continue readingImpolitical: Why Flaherty was so upset with the PBO this week – part 2
A follow-up here to a post from Thursday morning on the blog on the matter of Flaherty’s visceral reaction to the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s Wednesday report on OAS being in fiscally sustainable shape. In iPolitics on Friday afternoon, this column was published by two very reputable former Finance Department officials:
Continue readingImpolitical: Why Flaherty was so upset with the PBO yesterday
Well, there was the main takeaway from Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page’s report release yesterday on the fiscal sustainability of Old Age Security that Flaherty would not have been too pleased with: “OAS sustainable under current rules, says budget watchdog.” That main point runs counter to the government’s messaging. And
Continue readingImpolitical: The "great shell game"
Come on in, the water’s warm! Yes to this Martin column today: “The myth of Tory economic performance.” Can the myth be sustained in coming years? Are times about to get rockier? Some headlines from today to consider: “Banks rolling back mortgage discounts,” “Customers feel the pinch as banks cut
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: When is Money Good Money?
Several years ago a story in the Readers Digest’s Life’s Like That, was a perfect anthem to the American Dream. The young man who had sent in the story, was attending business school, and in the summer worked at his father’s restaurant, a busy local eatery. With his new found knowledge,
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: So This is Ethical Oil?
The American conservatives appear to be adopting, or at least sharing, tactics being used by the Canadian conservatives to get what they want. Intimidation and corruption. The Republican controlled Congress is voting on a bill that would force President Obama to make a decision on TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline by November 1. An unprecedented
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Harper Job Cuts Provide Perfect Opportunity for Revenge
On the front page of yesterday’s Toronto Star, Les Whittington and Bruce Campion-Smith reveal the thousands of civil services jobs being cut by the Harper government. This after an election promise made by John Baird not to make those cuts. What he really meant to say was vote for us
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Will the Flaherty-Harper Ticking Time Bomb be Detonated?
In Jim Flaherty’s first budget, he announced that his government was opening up the housing market to private insurers. “These changes will result in greater choice and innovation in the market for mortgage insurance, benefiting consumers and promoting home ownership.” Loosely translated, the sub-prime mortgage industry was heading north, and
Continue readingImpolitical: Harper government flips and flops on Europe
Yesterday: “Canada could pay into IMF Europe fund, Flaherty says.” Hmmm, maybe they should have been a little more open-minded initially. Here in early November was Harper’s shortsighted message at the G20: “Harper says no Canadian money for European bailout.” Harper was pretty definitive at the time: “We see absolutely
Continue readingNo oil for you! What could be Harper’s first sound policy on the United States
If we disregard the fetish-like obsession conservatives in Canada have for the GOP and Tea Party crackpots south of the border and if we ignore the uncharacteristic of a Canadian mistakes their current leader has made, I’m talking about Stephen Harper, the cons may be onto something by refusing to ship
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Jim Flaherty Joins the GOP in Bid to Stick it to Workers
I can understand now why Stephen Harper claims to only watch American news. How else can his government follow the trends, though the GOP are lagging? Jim Flaherty announced an increase in payroll taxes ages ago. The parties who claim to support lower taxes are instead increasing them, though only
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