A plan for financial disaster vs proposals for the economy

I spot that the Tories need some help with their "plan". Here's my truth-as-it-is edit:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper understands didn't expect the global financial crisis. His plan for the way forward has been clear visionless and consistent: balanced budgets deficits, lower taxes, investments to create jobs lost and keeping inflation low.

This is in stark contrast to Stéphane Dion Jim Flaherty and Jack Layton Jack Layton, who have only just realized that the economy is an issue.

Dion wants to thought about imposing a massive carbon tax that will drive up the cost of everything and hurt families emissions. Layton will increase taxes on businesses and drive jobs out of Canada.

The Liberals and the NDP are both a vote for financial disaster recovery. They have no a plan. Both parties The Tories would gamble with Canadians’ hard-earned money for short term electoral gain.

For the past year and a half, the Harper Government has been implementing a real plan to protect our economy Harper's job. The Harper Government is not really working for all Canadians who have a job to keep, a mortgage to pay and a retirement to save for.

A Conservative government will not be raising taxes, only federal debt. We will not impose a carbon tax. We will not cancel planned tax reductions for business everyone. We will not keep our spending within our means. It is that simple.

The alternative is not a plan. It is just the consequence of complete panic competence, and this government will not panic do anything at a time of uncertainty.

The Trend

I believe the recent string of polls showing the Liberals tied, or at least with a lead, over the Conservatives and it is a distinguishing mark in the never-ending story of the Liberal party. I just read the Harris-Decima results here.

After only about six months since the 40th general election, after Harper almost winning an election outright, after Dion taking the Liberals to depths of history's worst, we are left in a position no one could have predicted the morning after.

Just for a refresher, let's look at the numbers

Election Post-Liberal
Day Convention
Conservatives 38% 29%
Liberals 26% 34%
NDP 18% 15%
Bloc 10% 9%
Green 7% 11%

One striking thing about the current position is that the Liberals are above the Conservatives with a lead that is above the margin of error.

Although, the Liberals might rise in popularity in Tory hot spots, they may still be far away from overturning the local encumbant. However, they are rising in spots like Quebec, Ontario and to a lesser extent, in B.C. These are all provinces where a slight change, even within the margin of error, could result in the changing of many seats in the House of Commons.

I think this means there is an opportunity here, for the Liberals, to start showing some swagger and push Harper on his own confidence motion strategy. There is nothing that the public appreciates quite like having the local bully stood up to. And considering the amount of confidence matters Harper has bullied his way through parliament, it will be a strong statement on his own character when he has to put his tail between his own legs and doing everything he can to avoid one. Or many.

Of course, this should be expected considered the results of polls showing the opposition with the popular lead. I just think the drastic change in the polling results since Election Day is a direct comment from the people that they think the Liberal party has made the right decisions recently and wants to support the party again. I think voters will smirk when they see Harper starting to lose at his own game, at his own tactics that managed to keep his own arse afloat. The writing is being written on the wall. And I think, the message is loud and clear.

Ignatieff Wins, Tories Pissy

Watched the speeches yesterday. I thought it was fairly well done considering we all knew the outcome. The debates about how the rules of debating should be changed to reflect the ability of certain groups to influence debate, was rather, well, useless, in my mind. I know it was so that some groups could still bring certain issues forward that may otherwise be ignored. But, if they were ignored en masse, how important of an issue could they really be? And is any of this really binding on the party leader, who is the eye of the storm when it comes to party policy?

So I read a few stories today, and the comments from the anti-Ignatieff campaign are in full force. The comments are trying to slam Iggy for living in the US, for being divinely chosen to govern, and for lack of policy.

I love how quickly these party hacks forget that Harper is in government and that Harper is the failure. The Tories used to pretend that they were the rightly chosen to govern when they were in opposition, even before an election to determine that. Harper and friends are pathetically voiceless when it comes to party policy - it is his royal highness Harper, who decides what it best for Canadians and how they should suffer for it. It is laughable how Harper says there is no need for an election now, and that all parties should work together to make parliament work.

How can parliament work, when one person decides to prorogue it to save only himself? How can parliment work when one man decides to call an "illegal" election in the fall?

I think these people who freak out over Ignatieff's leadership and his speech are true signs of the change that is in the air. It is a litmus test of how scared the opponents of the Liberals really are. I think, rightly, it is a sign that another election cannot happen soon enough.

Under Rug Swept

The new story about the Conservatives giving up on killing the long-gun registry is another example of how they are the party of retail politics at its most basic. It's all about the show, the presentation, the big headline. It's never about the facts, the policies, or the small print.

It is extremely sad that the Conservatives were pushing this button (which may be their third? fourth? attempt) since the long-run registry "was part of the evidence that ultimately led to the arrest and conviction of two men" in the Mayerthorpe tragedy.

However, every day brings a new challenge for the Tories, and lately that challenge has become a game of deciding what's in it for me and how many times can we announce it?

The Tories managed to squeeze out a number of headlines when they decided to introduce a Senate bill that would gut the gun registry. But now, there is no plan to vote on this magnificently Tory blue bill. They'd rather shove this bill out the back door than confront the situation tete-a-tete.

As all of Canada has now seen, they are willing to transfer any item from their list of priorities in exchange for another day with control of the House of Commons. It's not necessarily a bad thing, to be flexible, when running the country. However, it's a different story, when you hear from certain people who continuously state that Liberals will say anything to be in power, but do these people know it is the Tories who will do anything to be in power?

As a Canuck recently said on youtube, "give your balls a tug". Or maybe they should grow a pair.

Harponomics

This is seriously on the conservative.ca website still. Still - and after all we've been through together! There are nuggets of proverbial dog doo all over that site. But what else would you expect other than a self-gratifying self-assessed pat-on-the-Tory back?

So maybe we should take the liberty to update it, so here, I'll give it a go.

The Conservative Record:

+ Highest unemployment rate in over 25 years.

+ Up to 600,000 jobs will be lost around the end of 2009.

+ National Debt has not been racked up this fast since the last time they were at the helm.

+ Secretly planning "surprise deficits" since the despised "surprise surpluses" Liberals had year after year were strategically wiped out.

+ Harper works harder each and every day to keep the conservative alliance together long enough in an attempt to fulfill his life long dream of destroying all opposition parties, especially those Liberals with no moral compass (This item is currently on hiatus.)

I'd love to continue, but I need to go recharge my Garmin MoralityMate 6000GT GPS.

Why Answer Questions

Bloggies Tories are getting giddy defending Mr. Harper for not answering questions from Canadian reporters. Blogging Tories seems to have a hate-on for the Canadian Main Stream Media, or as they refer to them, the MSM. The use of the acronym, MSM, helps to lower their stature a notch. BT must be blue in the face from all their hatred towards, what they believe, is a ridiculously biased bunch of Liberal lovers.

This BT seem to think not answering lame questions is better than not answering anything to anyone. Somehow, the BT bunch thinks the media are incredibly stupid and should not even consider asking their intellectual leader Harper any questions, since they themselves are not nearly as cognisant as the outlandishly brillant guy who almost lost power a few months ago by virtue of his own political games.

Some of the comments on BT blogs seem to be coming from a room full of ardent Tory supporters who have worked themselves into a frenzy. It's a mad house and I've been thoroughly entertained this afternoon by reading some of it.

Unfortunately, it's now an afternoon that I will never get back.

What Do Canadians Matter?

Of course, Mr. Harper, leader of accountability and all things righteous, does not want to be interviewed by Canadians. He would much rather speak with Americans. His true brethren?

From the Toronto Star:

Canadian journalists, who are paying $4,200 each to travel with the prime minister to the G20 and NATO summits in Europe next week, were told Friday they would be limited to two media availabilities with Harper over five days – each one comprised of two questions in French and two in English.

The limitation on the number of questions is a marked departure from Harper's recent past practice, when all Canadian media travelling with the prime minister were invited to ask questions.

Harper does not care about Canada as much as he adores America. This is painfully obvious in his attitude towards Canadian media. It's too bad we have a Prime Minister who has more interest in speaking with American journalists than he has with his own electorate.

Maybe he's too scared to hear the latest poll numbers about Ignatieff or how well his party is doing in Quebec. Maybe he's trying to avoid talking about the Canadian economy or what his own Parliamentary Budget Officer really thinks.