John Williamson, the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, has an excellent piece in the National Post today pointing out just how bad the Conservative government has been when it comes to spending.
How bad?
Writes Williamson: "The Conservatives have controlled the government purse strings since early 2006; After their first two years, Ottawa had grown another 14.8%. This is higher than Mr. Martin's appalling record."
Oh and remember how the bad, old Liberals used to funnel tax dollars into ridings as a way of bribing voters.
Well. says Williamson, the Tories are doing the same thing:
"For example, Ottawa confirmed that Quebec-based Bombardier will receive$350-million to build a plane with no confirmed buyers. Nova Scotia, the lone Maritime battleground province, will receive an additional $867-million in energy royalties."
It's good to see Williamson has the courage to state the obvious.
... Nothing will change until we learn to recognise and reject economic collectivism- the role of the state redistributing income.
ReplyDeleteSurprise, surprise, another Prime Minister and another political party that has failed to follow through on campaign issues.
ReplyDeleteI've said it before and I'll say it again, the only difference is the colour of their ties
TangoJuliette sez:
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is: The $350 Million for Bombardier has been on the books since Martin was in power.
What I'd like to know is how much pyback Bombarder contributes to Quebec and Ottawa coffers. And does bombardier own or use the defunct white elephant airpot which should be named after the drivig force that set it up?
Mirabael to me shall always be Pete Ellyuttz Trudeau Internationl Parking lot and Bombardier testing grounds.
Dorval shall always remain Dorval.
NS deal was a forced negotiation. 'member Danny Willams, the "ABC" dude? the lowered flags, raising hell, and if Harper didn't make side deals, all hell would bust loose. NS reaps some spill-over benefits.
Growth in Ottawa? I'd like to see fully broken-out comparison figures on that one.
To paraphrase Gerry:
"...It's sad to see that Williamson doesn't seem to have the courage to verify and lay out his facts and figures, but simplistically parrots the patently obvious, liberal-friendly party line, in what has become a Canadian feature, the typical drive-by bovine feces flinging smear tactics..."
tj
t.e. & o.e.
Getting the facts straight would be a good start for Williamson and the CTF... and people who repeat their assertions.
ReplyDeleteI guess the influence from the out-of-control spending days of the Mulroney regime is alive and well. I was appalled to see L. Ian Macdonald (a former Mulroney advisor) defend such irrational earmarks. And twice he tried to smear the Reform/Alliance for what I considered a good effort against corporate welfare:
ReplyDelete"The federal funding of $350-million — about 10¢ on the development dollar — has been in place since the Martin Liberals approved it in 2005. The Harper government has simply reconfirmed this, hoping to receive credit for it in Quebec without being accused of flip-flopping on Conservative positions articulated during the Reform-Alliance years, which strongly criticized the Bomber.
In Conservative urban legend, Bombardier was some kind of corporate welfare bum. In reality, according to one senior executive, the last time it accepted an export development loan was 1994, and the money has long since been re-paid. The Reform-Alliance party would blast Bombardier, only to call the company asking it to buy tables at fundraisers."
These guys from the old federal PC wing worry me.
How quickly people forget the Miller/Martin deal to bail out Miller for the Toronto Island bridge agreement.
ReplyDeleteMiller promised money from the Feds to solve the Homeless crisis and that Martin had assured Toronto that the TPA would axe the bridge and it wouldn't cost even 1 Toonie.
Bombardier lost Jobs from the bridge being cancelled by Miller , but Martin bailed out Miller by paying the $35 Million Lawsuit to NOT build the $25 Million bridge.
In turn Martin must have cut a better deal to Bombardier Quebec while Olivia Chow also Inked a massive Un-tendered deal with the TTC to buy Bombardier trains from Thunder bay.
Liberals spent far too much time claiming that the previous Government made it tough to manage Canada with financial responsibility while leaving bad contracts to settle up.
But now the same Liberals rant about Harper being in charge and he can't blame past Leaders,but this tells me that Liberals are saying that they should never be allowed near Governance because they can't be trusted or have priorities they follow through with.