Political Staples

Problem is, the left will feel your pain, then amplify it 100 fold..Canadians are going to be in for a shock if they think the left is the answer in these times..

Canadians are going to be in for a shock if they think the left is the answer in these times.

This is what’s happening. Conservative rhetoric is so old and stale that nobody but conservatives pay attention to it anymore.

Yup Greg, that’s what’s going on. Sadly, no matter how many times the Liberals prove them wrong, Canadians still think they are a “progressive party”.

Well Greg (Mr. Sinister that is), the Liberals are certainly more progressive then the bunch currently in Ottawa.

I think the downturn in Conservative fortunes isn’t directly related with the recent economic bad news. Harper’s response to the recent bad news ranks only as a missed opportunity; he had a chance to take this issue, act boldly, and make it his own, and he hasn’t yet. He still can.

But people started souring to the Conservatives before this mess really hit the fan. I think Harper’s debate performance is a big part of it. People who weren’t partisan Conservatives looked at the man on television and just said, “I don’t trust this man.”

The economy has played into that, but isn’t the sole reason. I overheard someone at my local Tim Horton’s the other day, talking about Harper and the economy. His words? “Well, now we know why Harper called the election when he did.”

A lot of things are coming together: the gaffe-filled campaign, the debate performance. But couple the questions around Harper breaking his own election law and rushing into an election and the breaking of this news story, and I think a lot of people believe at the back of their minds that Harper called the election because he knew this was going to happen and he wanted to avoid blowback. And these people don’t like the sense of being deceived.

If Canadians feel deceived they simply weren’t paying attention:

Dec 21, 2007 PM sees trouble ahead for economy

Bruce Campion-Smith Tonda MacCharles Ottawa Bureau, Toronto Star

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…

http://74.125.45.104/search?q=cache:p77mghtPXnQJ:www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/287680+harper,+2007+interview,+slowing+economy&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=ca

Well Greg (Mr. Sinister that is), the Liberals are certainly more progressive then the bunch currently in Ottawa.

Could you put the bar any lower, Scott?