I honestly tried to you guys some costumes for trick or treating tonight, but they stores are all sold out, so you will have to go out as yourselves tonight
The cons will roast that bunny whole as they don’t like to split hares.
Is that a chicken hawk in a yellow suit or is it a plain yellow chicken? If it is a chicken hawk he should know that prayers alone won’t get him the chicken.
GARTH GARTH…You sat on your hands again….they must be getting sore by now!!.I admired the entire NDP gang who had the courage of their convictons.Harper just keeps rolling along….frustrating isn’t it ?
The white of their eyes are coming into view. — Garth
Garth, Is the first revealed Liberal party policy really to recind on the GST tax cut? Will you campaign with if elected we Liberals will increase the GST?
Only last week, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion was warning that his party is vehemently opposed to cutting the GST (even though his party campaigned on eliminating it altogether back in 1993).
Today, Dion will have to do the trick of deciding whether to eat his words, or force an election over the reducing of the GST tax, and other tax cuts. Trick or treat?
These “tricks” by the CONS and “treats” to the taxpayer must be making him sick.
Dion said that his party’s MPs are “completely in disagreement” with the mini-budget, but won’t defeat the government over it. Again, actions speak louder than words.
“We will choose our time when we decide to put this government down,” he said. Yet the longer he waits, the more time he gives to the CONS to act like they are a majority government in the giving out of “tricks” and “treats.” Don’t for one moment think that they don’t have even more tricks up their sleeve.
Garth’s kitchen cabinet has told him clearly to bring down this government NOW! Yet Stephane continues to procrastinate while he consults his crystal ball. It is analogous to Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
“We will choose our time,” he says. Yeah, sure. We have heard that for so long now, but Canadians at least want some kind of a time frame. The longer we wait, the easier it is for the CONS to look like a majority government that can keep putting the Libs on the side of reacting rather than acting proactively and with clear direction.
If not now, when? Wither Canada now? Who will fill the crisis of leadership in the land? Who will lead the charge?
We need leadership now!
Garth, nice jokes. I suppose thats about all you can come up with since your lib party pretty much has no position on the issues in parliament.
Abstain, abstain.
Why are you taking a pay cheque from the tax payer if you won’t do any work?
You are the cause of voter apathy today. The good part about that is no matter what the polls say today, the only poll that counts is election day.
Conservatives will get out to vote because the last thing they want is another stint with the liberanos. The dippers will get out and vote because their politics are their religion. The libs, well, they will do whatever libs do, abstain.
Would you like some hot sauce with that bait? — Garth
Garth Please tell me that your party is not going to run with the idea of raising the GST back up. If that’s the case you guy’s will end up with the same kind of dumbass campaign that John Tory ran. You might as well hand a Majority over to Harper right now and save us all the trouble and expense of another election.
Question to all you Cons baiting that the LIbs abstained…
How stupid would it have been to vote against tax cuts to force an election?
Extremely! And Mr. Dion isn’t stupid.
This is how things work in a minority government situation. If the opposition can live with the measure, they don’t support it, nor do they defeat it just for the sake of it. They abstain.
Garth, in my opinion, the Liberals have been too silent, and I believe you guys will have to inspire voters the same way they were inspired in 1993. Don’t make us wait too long for election day; the wait is getting unbearable!
Garth, Is the first revealed Liberal party policy really to recind on the GST tax cut? Will you campaign with if elected we Liberals will increase the GST?
No. — Garth
By Marc on 10.31.07 4:31 pm
How can you say that Garth? Dion said he would do it. Or is he changing his mind. Or are you going to rebel again and get kicked out of another party?
You know, the libs are the party of confusion. Campaigned in ’93 on eliminating the GST. Now they are the defender of it.
Campaigned on tearing up the free trade agreement, once elected immediately ratified it.
Where do libs stand on issues? We dont know. They wont vote, they change they mind.
Dippers want citizens to be dependent on government. That way they can always use fear during campaigns to stay in power. Saskatchewan comes to mind.
The Bloc want to separate. Not because they care about Quebecers but because they want to be the one with the hand that squeezes.
Libs? We dont know where they stand. They want government but have no vision of attaining it. The want power but give us no reason to give it.
One thing you can be sure of. The libs have a hidden agenda. They’ve got to cause they sure dont got a public one.
News today says two Tory candidates have been dumped in Ontario. I wonder what that means for Halton?
It’s beginning to look like the Conservatives don’t need local EDA’s. There doesn’t seem to be any point in having candidate selection meetings any more. The PMO will tell you who your candidate is going to be.
Local input may be unnecessary and unwanted. Is this why there is still no candidate in Halton?
So was Dion misquoted when it was reported “Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said ahead of the vote that if he were elected, he would consider rescinding the GST cut — a comment that was met by consternation by one prominent member of his party.”?
No matter if you’re Liberal or Conservative you have to agree that an NDP government would be absolute suicide for Canada – can you just imagine the taxes, global issues, fighting enemies with protest signs and tie dye shirts – shudder.
They have absolutely no idea of international or even domestic finance – none whatsoever.
Soory for the post I made a couple of minutes ago Garth. In my haste I didn’t quite comprehend that he would consider rescinding the GST tax cut. Considering it and actually making it policy is different. I do wonder how long he would consider it for however as it would be an election killer most likely.
For anyone who thinks that the GST cut should have went to other things like Healthcare or Environment, you are welcome to pay extra to CCRA and I am sure they would happily take it and put it back into general revenue.
Hey Garth, I recently learned through a Liberal supporter’s post on Youtube that in March 2005, Harper and his Conservative caucus abstained from voting on the Liberal budget, to ensure passage of the 2005 Atlantic Accord
deal. So seriously, how can Harper criticize Dion for abstaining from a Throne Speech, when the PM abstained from a Budget vote in opposition?
Only petty politics could allow Harper to be so hypocritical!
Also,looks like the CPC has booted another ‘maverick’ by the name of Mark Warner! DemocracyWatch, a non-profit body responsible for monitoring Democracy in Canada, reported on VOCM Open Line that even though the FAA (Federal Accountability Act) Harper promised on the campaign trail was to have 54 provisions, the current one only has 36. Absent from the current Act? A provision forbiding the leader of the party from preventing the president of the local EDA (Electoral District Association) from choosing a local candidate, even if the party leader didn’t want that person as a candidate.
Funny isn’t it? If that provision had been passed in the act, you (Garth) would still be a CPC MP, as would Bill Casey!
At moment not too sure many Canadians care about the GST but do like the income tax lower rate, having said that I wonder Garth if to trash all the old tax forms and print new ones as they should all have been printed by now.
As far as next year well to many things can happen, like over run costs to Afghanistan. As far as cross border shopping, to-days lower interest rate cuts will drive our down up and jobs down right? In any rate it appears will have a one note one song one step Flaherty Sing Song man, trying to play Mr. Frinance Man.
I was just wondering how many Canadians working south of the border (U.S.) are now working for far less money than they were a year ago due to low Amerian dollar and high Canadian dollar? They must be somewhere between a rock and and hard nosed Canadian Finance Minister with his head in the sand. hmmm wonder how they will vote?
The Energizer Bunny is your alter ego, Garth. Thanks for keeping the income trust file on the front burner.
Speaking of files……has anyone seen or heard anything of John Baird since Parliament resumed? With only 2 days left in which to manoever the opposition into an election before Christmas, Steve could be going to “surprise” Canadians and unleash something totally unpleasant for the Liberals to deal with on the Environment file. There’s no way that Mr. Dion would be able to abstain on anything to do with the environment….that’s his “hill”.
Hi there Mr. Garth. How can you so easily say that? It contradicts what Mr. Dion said. He clearly stated that, yes, if he wins power he will reconsider the GST cuts. How can you turn around and say “no” & “ain’t gonna happen”?
Also, can you shed some light on what is wrong with Ralph these days? He’s really lost it, eh? First he asks a question in the House, then during the answer he heckles and name calls like you’d expect from wayward teens at a talent show. Yesterday, he made a comment to Libby Davis on Duffy that was very, very rude. She was asked a question, when answering, Ralph broke in with; “there she goes yammering on” and laughed in her face. There she goes yammering on? How condescending and belittling can one get? So much for respect for female colleagues eh?
Anyway, today is hump day (Wednesday), two more to go, you must need a ride by now.
How come we no loger hear of the bitter infighting and division coming out of the Quebec wing of the Liberal party?
Dion ELIMINATED those despotic backstabbers.
How come we never hear of the Liberal disunity anymore, even with the likes of ‘freelancing’ Garth Turner as one of the Liberal rank and file?
Leader extraordinaire Stephane Dion has the ENTIRE Liberal caucus marching together voluntarily towards his vision of recapturing Canada for the benefit of all Canadians.
And how come we constantly hear the Con trolls on this site desperately trying to convince readers of this blog that Stephane Dion is ‘running’ from an election when he marches into the House with his entire Liberal team and delivers knock-out abstention after knock-out abstention to the DESPERATE-FOR-AN-ELECTION Harper Party?
Probably because there is a ROCK-SOLID strategy behind his unifying actions, namely…
Listening to Canadians!!!
You Harper acolytes had better pull out all of the stops because Dion is about to turn your North Star from a remote and distant galaxy into our very own Sun that provides warmth and sustenance to the entire Canadian population.
“Libs? We dont know where they stand. They want government but have no vision of attaining it. The want power but give us no reason to give it.
“One thing you can be sure of. The libs have a hidden agenda. They’ve got to cause they sure dont got a public one.”
–By Jim on 10.31.07 5:35 pm
It appears that Dion wants to err on the side of caution rather on being bold, courageous and proactive.
He seems to want to err of the side of being conservative (maintaining the status quo) rather than on being liberal.
The liberals are starting to act like conservatives, and the conservatives like liberals.
There must be a secret plan, or a hidden agenda somewhere. I cannot help but agree that the Liberals would be better served by singing the praises of Stephane Dion and the Liberal alternate plan for tax cuts, rather than to demonize PMSH and to vehemently oppose GST tax cuts.
More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar. Present a positive and alterative vision that is superior. Then people will start voting FOR something, instead of to simply be AGAINST, or worse still, to stand for nothing, and to abstain from the democratic process.
All that is necessary for the triumph of injustice is that good people do nothing, but to sit, when they should be taking a stand.
“One thing you can be sure of. The libs have a hidden agenda.”
By Jim on 10.31.07 5:35 pm
I agree Jim.
Dion says the GST reductions are very bad for us. If he believes that, then he must want to raise it back up. I wonder if his plans are to put it up to 6% or all the way back up to 7% again.
You think? — Garth
Dion did say last week that his party is vehemently opposed to cutting the GST.
Now Garth is saying that they would not rescind the GST cut when and if they should be re-elected to power.
How “vehement” then is the Liberal opposition to the GST cut? Where was the vehement opposition to it in today’s vote?
Perhaps as vehement as their opposition to the GST tax in the first place, with a promise to rescind the tax completely, only to leave it in place after attaining office in 1993.
Once in power, Liberals tend to maintain the status quo, to let sleeping dogs lie, to maintain what is in place, and to act more like conservatives than like liberals.
Hahahaha Funny cartoon ..each character of the cartoon represents the true image of what most people see about these politicians Dion is a chicken (afraid in calling an election) , Stevie –Frankenstein, Layton a Clown (clowns are really scary), BQ are jesters and so forth
It now appears that only the Quebec Liberal caucusand the MSM media are interested in having an election. Does this mean that they are all afraid of losing their jobs? it is very doubtful that they have the best interests of Canada behind their rants, is there no way to stop the MSM from stirring up election speculation?
There she goes yammering on? How condescending and belittling can one get? So much for respect for female colleagues eh? Leasa
And this from someone who called another female poster a nasty bitch. Tsk Tsk
Hypocrisy at its finest.
Garth, in my opinion, the Liberals have been too silent, and I believe you guys will have to inspire voters the same way they were inspired in 1993. Don’t make us wait too long for election day; the wait is getting unbearable!
By Jonnay on 10.31.07 5:30 pm
Yeah – I remember the inspiration by the Libbers – scrap the GST and rip up NAFTA
It’s beginning to look like the Conservatives don’t need local EDA’s. There doesn’t seem to be any point in having candidate selection meetings any more. The PMO will tell you who your candidate is going to be.
Local input may be unnecessary and unwanted. Is this why there is still no candidate in Halton?
By Ed Brooks on 10.31.07 6:03 pm
Ahh Ed, you may want to look at how many Lib candidates Stephane Dion appointed. And come to think of it – there’s a Nova Scotia riding that will not be running in Nova Scotia. So Ed – what do ya think about your leader?
I fully agree with your opinion that the liberals need to make their economic platform known to Canadians. The problem is that I really don’t think that they have one hammered out yet.
That said, I’d rather see an opposition party working on an economic policy than a sitting government implementing a foolish one.
The feds (libs and cons) need to work towards allowing you, Canadians and I to see our money in the first place. The pendulum of taxation needs to swing toward consumption and away from income. Empowering Canadians to make some wise economic decisions now (and save a few bucks) so that they can be in a position to spend a few bucks in the future makes a heck of a lot more sense than cutting the GST.
Check it out…I say raise the GST to 10% should it be accompanied with a significant income tax reduction…and I meen significant.
The GST cut was a necessary componenent of the “miny-budget” because it was a campaign promise. Trust me, Harper and Flaherty both know that this is a poor financial decision. Populists aren’t always right but we tend to vote them in anyway.
Well helps us out with his comment Garth, that he would consider it, I watched that news coverage and it appeared to me that he would seriously consider it, Will you publicly state that the LPC will not rescind the GST cuts.
Last week, Dion said that his party was “vehemently” opposed to a GST tax cut.
Today, he has softened somewhat. The promise today is that if he were elected he would “consider” rescinding the GST cut promised by the Conservatives in today’s mini budget.
“Garth, is the first revealed Liberal party policy really to recind on the GST tax cut? Will you campaign with if elected we Liberals will increase the GST?”
“No.” — Garth –By Marc on 10.31.07 4:31 pm
Notice, Marc, that Garth did not say that the Liberal Party would not rescind the GST cut if re-elected.
He is wisely saying that he would not campaign for that if it were, in fact, to be part of the Liberal Party of Canada platform.
So what Dion would “consider” campaigning for, and “consider” making official policy, Garth is saying that he would definitely not campaign for.
Now, all we need to know is, what will be the official position of the Liberal Party of Canada on the GST tax cut in their official campaign platform? Will they take an official, public position, or is there a hidden agenda?
I appreciate Garth’s forthrightness in saying that he would definitely not campaign for such a plank in his party’s platform, were Dion’s thinking out loud to become the official party position.
It looks like more than one Liberal MP is trying to distance themselves from Dion’s remarks.
Again, the cry of the hour is for leadership that leads. In times like this, one needs to either lead, follow or get out of the way.
All taxation is based on coercion, control and imposition.
They govern best who govern least. It is only by taking personal responsibility that a society can grow and mature, for maturity comes with the acceptance of responsibility.
Depending on government shekels means being bound by government shackles, and keeping people in a permanent state of dependence and immaturity, a perennial state of being a child that looks to the state as parent and provider.
When we mature, we develop not only a personal responsibility to look after our own family, but a social conscience to help with the needs of others.
We need some government to protect the lives of our citizens, but in many other areas, the government should get out of our way as much as possible.
There is no tax that is a good tax. We do not want to be perennially the child of the great father who art in Ottawa.
Just as there is no good tax, there is no tax cut that is a bad tax cut. Any amount of money that is put bask into the pocket of the tax-payer places a greater responsibility on the individual for how his money will be spent.
If he mis-spends his money unwisely, he will have only himself to blame, and he will have to bear the consequences. That is the only way that people grow up and mature.
If, on the other hand, it is the government who mis-spends our money, and who makes mistakes, then we have nothing but this incessant griping and grumbling and name-calling about the government’s policies in how they mis-spend our money, when we should not be depending on government (like a child would depend on his parent) in the first place.
Some of us are not even looking to government for ultimate answers. We say, “Keep the individual as free and responsible as possible, so that the more self-control and self-government we have, the less do we need external controls, rules, regulations and coercions.”
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says don’t expect more tax cuts in his next budget.
Flaherty says the wide-ranging tax cuts announced by the federal Conservatives yesterday are likely all that Canadians will see in the foreseeable future.
He says it will take some time for the latest reductions to work their way through the system.
The Tory government’s tax-cutting plan, including a one-percentage-point reduction in the GST, passed a confidence motion today in the Commons.
The package also provides broad-based income and corporate tax cuts, some of which take effect retroactive to last Jan. 1.
That’s all of it, in it’s entirety. No spin, no splash. Just, that’s all folks. They weren’t going to do the 1% GST (this one) so soon, the dropping of the personal income rate to 15% was smoke and mirrors from the beginning anyway. No wonder that it’s retroactive. It’s our bloody money.
So promises and hopes “but it matters little with the economy humming along strongly and federal government surplus already at $8.7 billion after the first five months of the fiscal year”. What about by the end of the year?
Again, never a word for the homeless and poverty or just child poverty in this rich rich country. Was he not paying attention when Miloon Kothari, the UN’s envoy on homelessness dropped by. Or the Dalai Lama.
These men, one with a specific message, one with a general message, but not so different, if you pay attention, and Jim Flaherty and Steve Harper have it in their power to make a positive difference, or not, with our tax dollars. Which they are going to spend anyway. Renting helicopters is the last I heard. Civilian contractors, thru the states? I’m not sure. Ask Hillier.
And nothing guaranteed towards cities aging infrastructure, Or increasing healthcare wait times, (that was on the last list, done now I guess). All the things that people need.
Big Box day care is being welcomed into assorted provinces so Steve and little what’s his face will happily pass the buck on that one while they open the door. In Canada it will be called 123 Busy Beavers. In Australia where it’s based it’s ABC Learning Centres. And it’s not what the liberals or anyone else had in mind when we spoke of universal daycare. This is daycare by walmart. No good. For profit, Big profit, traded publicly. But hell, it’s only our kids. Big Flim Flam Jim is gonna love it.
Now if only they could get that majority, but they figure they don’t need one. But when they do, Jim will Flip Flop and there will be a, are you ready for it, a tax break! Wow, and he said no more. Yeah, and Steve said” Remember this, remember this.” We did.
Mr Turner
You have to admit the tax cuts are good for the country. Of course the Liberals would do it different but all in all they are positive steps.
In addition Harper is not such a bad guy. for one thing he is in charge and it is noticeable. The Quebec pool numbers are not all that great fo the Liberls. They are running just three points in front of the NDP. This does not look good
that was a fond wish at 5:30. But the Libs didn’t inspire voters in 1993; it was Mulroney and his PCs who had inspired voters with disgust, and the Libs looked good in comparison.
How many years will it take Harper to achieve a similar level of voter dissatisfaction? Well, if we have to wait until the LPC reinvents itself as a national party and rises from the ashes of its October collapse, we are going to find out.
Personally, I would have liked to have seen the neo-Cons out of office by now, but that would have presupposed a
credible alternative.
I had to laugh when I saw Flaherty on the news talking about the tax cuts. He actually said that the Conservatives LOWERED the income tax rate AGAIN…what a crock! This is the same party that RAISED the income tax rate by 0.5% in their last budget. Now, all they’ve done is given back Canadians the 0.5% they took to finance the GST cut in the last budget.
The GST cut is simply BAD, BAD tax policy…..see the following from the Globe & Mail. Too bad the average Canadian simply doesn not understand economic fundamentals….so Harper can buy their votes.
The GST cut: a triumph of politics over economics
Jeffrey Simpson
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a master’s degree in economics. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty attended Princeton University, an elite U.S. Ivy League school. They are both well-educated, intelligent men.
How then to explain their support for a idea so demonstrably stupid that, had they defended the idea in an undergraduate term paper, they would have flunked the course.
The idea is to cut the goods and services tax from 7 per cent to 6, and then to 5 per cent. The first one-point drop, at a cost of about $5-billion, came in the Harper government’s initial budget. The Speech from the Throne proclaims that the second point drop will be forthcoming, likely in the next budget.
Just how stupid is this idea? This week, The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business asked 20 economists across Canada, and from across the political spectrum, about the wisdom of cutting the GST. Sixteen of 20 said it was a bad idea, two said it was irrelevant and two thought it sensible. Eighty per cent, therefore, denounced the idea; 10 per cent supported it. They read the Harper-Flaherty GST tax cut term paper and gave it an F.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development recently rendered the same general verdict on tax policy. Said the OECD: Consumption taxes are the way to go, offset by lower personal and corporate taxes.
Why? Personal and corporate income tax cuts, as every economist knows, tend to stimulate savings and investment, which is what an economy needs to become more productive and competitive, thereby raising overall living standards. Lower consumption taxes stimulate more – wait for it – consumption, some of which leaks out of the economy in the form of purchasing imports and taking trips abroad.
If such a widespread consensus exists among economists across Canada and in the OECD, why are Messrs. Harper and Flaherty persisting with an idea they must know as economists to be stupid?
Answer? Politics, pure and simple. The GST cut is the triumph of base politics over sensible economics.
When the Harperites sat down to craft their last campaign document, they observed that the Liberals had in fact cut personal income taxes, but the public had not seen or appreciated those cuts. In fact, polls demonstrated that Canadians didn’t even know their taxes had been reduced.
So the Harperites decided to give Canadians a tax cut they could see, feel and therefore appreciate at voting time; namely a reduction in the GST, whose creation by the Mulroney government had been attended with much political controversy.
A sensible government – or sensible opposition parties – would not only scrap the forthcoming reduction but reinstitute the previously cut point, and then add another. The result would be about $15-billion additional dollars for the federal government.
Then, the government should follow the lead of Canada’s best finance minister, Carole Taylor of British Columbia, who intends to levy a carbon tax to slow down the increase of greenhouse gas emissions and then reverse them.
A carbon tax on emissions, coupled with a “cap-in-trade†emissions market, lower mandatory vehicle emissions standards and renewable energy portfolios are among the most important policies for getting a grip on reducing emissions. (“Intensity†emissions improvements, of the kind favoured by oil and gas executives, the Alberta government and the Harperites merely slow down the increase in emissions and are therefore useless as serious policy.) With the new revenues from an 8 per cent GST and a carbon tax, whose size would rise over time, the federal government could then dramatically slash both personal and corporate income taxes.
The net result of such a shift should be to leave the government with the same amount of money as before; that is, be revenue-neutral. But the positive effects would be twofold.
First, personal and corporate income tax reduction would stimulate savings, profits and investments. (Low-income Canadians should be at the top of the list for help, and some of the money could be used for competition-enhancing investments in infrastructure.) Second, the country would over time become greener.
Thus far, the Harper government’s tax and spending policies have been deeply disappointing for the country’s competitive position.
First, the government handed over billions to the provinces to solve the mythical “fiscal imbalance,†which did nothing for productivity and competitiveness, but solved a political problem in Quebec.
Second, the government will have drilled a $10-billion hole in federal revenues through the two-point GST cut that will do nothing for productivity and competitiveness when compared with every other available tax cut, as the economists interviewed by the ROB illustrated this week.
Both policies represented the triumph of politics over economics, and short-term political considerations over long-term economic thinking.
Instead of this nonsense, tax policy should involve raising the GST, introducing carbon taxes, and then offsetting these new revenues by reductions in personal and corporate taxes to make Canada more efficient, competitive, fair and green.
Garth, it’s starting to look like you choose the wrong horse. Perhaps you should have taken Elizabeth May up on her offer, her and Dion are spending the same amount of time standing up in the house.
Ahh Ed, you may want to look at how many Lib candidates Stephane Dion appointed. And come to think of it – there’s a Nova Scotia riding that will not be running in Nova Scotia. So Ed – what do ya think about your leader?
By Catherine on 10.31.07 7:39 pm
This is the attitude that makes both the Liberals and Conservatives look like hypocrits. Both parties are elitist and dictatorial. They only care about voters for that split second it takes to mark a ballot.
People need to either take back the parties from the self-serving party elite or get rid of these anti-democratic clubs completely. Instead, the local associations sit back and wait for their controllers to tell them what to do.
I have the deepest respect for those members of riding associations who dare confront the dictators from the center. They may end up turfed from the party but at least they will have managed to reveal the true nature of parties.
Local input may be unnecessary and unwanted. Is this why there is still no candidate in Halton?
By Ed Brooks on 10.31.07 6:03 pm
Ed you seem to have all the answers….if you’re interested, I could shoot you a couple of bucks and you run? Then again bitching and complaining is much easier no?
More conservatives breaking free from tyrrany.
Tories drop 2 would-be Ontario candidates
Mark Warner, Brent Barr no longer party’s picks
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 | 8:34 PM ET
CBC News http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/10/31/dropped-candidates.html
Warner said he was ousted in part for giving an interview to a national magazine about working with a former Liberal cabinet minister.
“I was told that when a reporter comes up like that, you say no comment,” said Warner. “I am offended by it, I think it’s important to use the modern means of communication to reach people.”
Guess I can go buy my next used vehicle south of the border in January…save 1% when I bring it home. What a joke. I’d rather have the $5 billion go to Health or Environment. This is what Dion should have said….not just raise the tax…tell us what he would do better. Dion needs a crash course in marketing.
Will you publicly state that the LPC will not rescind the GST cuts.
By KH on 10.31.07 7:47 pm
Well I guess not. As Plato once said,
“Your silence gives consent.”
I read a headline about some guy in the US who accidentally shot himself in both legs. If he recovers in time, maybe he can be recruited to run in the next Liberal leadership convention. If he improves his aim and learns to shoot for the feet, he would be a shoe in.
Ike above wrote that there was no such thing as a good tax, but he added that the government must do things to protect its citizens. My response re ‘no such thing as a good tax’: Just one example- taxation for education – education is vital to economic growth and prosperity. My response to ‘gov’t. must do something to protect its citizens’: Gotta look at the US for my answer. The US puts all the tax burden for its wars on the lower classes and gives tax cuts to the wealthiest class. So they have a tax system in the US all right, and they are using it to the advantage of the rich, which brings me back to ‘no such thing as a good tax’: education and taxation for education are the only things that can, ahem, level the playing field (where have I heard that said before?) and keep the rich from treating the country’s finances as their treasury (admittedly, an example from the US). So, the bottom line in an almost taxless country is: pay for wars on backs of the less fortunate and don’t give them any services in return, i.e., services that might upset the status quo which works only to the favour of the rich. Do we want to see that in Canada?
A sensible government – or sensible opposition parties – would not only scrap the forthcoming reduction but reinstitute the previously cut point, and then add another. The result would be about $15-billion additional dollars for the federal government.
The 5th Estate carried a terrific story this evening about Brian Mulroney receiving secret payments from Schreiber. This should be pursued hotly in the HOC as it appears that Harper has been trying to brush the issue quietly into a corner since Mulroney was part of the Conservative transition team.
Calls should be loud for a judicial inquiry! It appears that Mulroney may have recently claimed the $300,000 with Revenue Canada. If true, this would mean that he committed purgery since he earlier testified under oath that he did not receive any payments.
Fandango, you are most welcome to donate your unwanted GST reduction to CCRA. It would only go to general revenue but maybe some of the money might find its way into health care and the environment.
your 9:20 shows again that you have a way with words. It also assumes that it is a leaderhip problem in the LPC.
I am beginning to suspect that there is more to it than that: there is no party behind the leader. If there had been, they would have steeled the leader’s resolve and challenged the government. As it was, there was only a bunch of MPs worried about surviving and hanging on for better political times.
The only thing I would like to know about Dion as a leader is if he knew the state of the party when he was telling Harper that the Throne Speech better contain certain things or else. If he was bluffing with a busted flush, he should have just kept quiet. On the other hand, if he didn’t know his hand, he shouldn’t have been in the game.
If Garth can see the whites of their eyes appearing, he must be using a powerful telescope.
Good morning Lana, I guess you didn’t read my response to you in the other thread. Of course you didn’t. Anyway, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it’s a duck. Leasa
Well Herb, there is also the consideration of all is not necessarily as it may appear. Ever notice the guy who professes bravado, yet doesn’t enter the fight, cause he let someone else hold him back? Or maybe the sneaky snakes indicated they wanted to fight to make him feel comfortable in yipping, then pulled the rug. Nothing left to do then but eat some crow.
As to the lack of support, I think one answer lies in the history of choosing Dion as leader and the wisdom or lack thereof. This move is not helping them to rally support and fill the war chest.
You are bang on about the running of one’s mouth. It’s not an academic sounding board forum. You know, throw it out, let it bounce back and see how it sounds. People are listening.
As to Gart’s scope, I didn’t lend him mine. Maybe he borrowed one from Taliban Jack. AKA Jackolantern!
Indeed, I have been equal opportunity in my criticisms.
During the election campaign, I was out there pleading with people to try th Conservatives because I believed that given the opportunity, Conservatives would respect their own members and demonstrate more honesty and integrity than the Liberals.
Turns out, I was embarassingly wrong.
I don’t accept the “But, we aren’t quite as bad as those other guys” slogan that is developing from posters here.
Good morning Lana, I guess you didn’t read my response to you in the other thread. Of course you didn’t. Anyway, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it’s a duck. Leasa
There ya go..assuming again! Of course I read your response..if you are referring to the one where you argued against yourself. You can’t have it both ways, Leasa. You can’t call people names for calling you names, and not be called a hypocrite…or a duck. (IMHO)
It appears to me that you and Dion are on a different page about GST.
So tell me Garth, Why did Dion stated on National TV that the Liberals would look at increasing the GST if the Liberals will not roll back the Conservatives GST cuts as you stated above?
Hi Garth you maveric;to bad you do not have any cazoonies as Mr.Balanger does;you are just another member of “her magestys loyal abstainers”,who enjoys being pu$$y whipped by steffi.maveric???Hee Hee
77 comments ↓
I honestly tried to you guys some costumes for trick or treating tonight, but they stores are all sold out, so you will have to go out as yourselves tonight
The cons will roast that bunny whole as they don’t like to split hares.
Is that a chicken hawk in a yellow suit or is it a plain yellow chicken? If it is a chicken hawk he should know that prayers alone won’t get him the chicken.
GARTH GARTH…You sat on your hands again….they must be getting sore by now!!.I admired the entire NDP gang who had the courage of their convictons.Harper just keeps rolling along….frustrating isn’t it ?
The white of their eyes are coming into view. — Garth
Garth, Is the first revealed Liberal party policy really to recind on the GST tax cut? Will you campaign with if elected we Liberals will increase the GST?
No. — Garth
Now on this one no matter what your political stripe we have to agree, well done Zorp
Tick or treat?
Only last week, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion was warning that his party is vehemently opposed to cutting the GST (even though his party campaigned on eliminating it altogether back in 1993).
Today, Dion will have to do the trick of deciding whether to eat his words, or force an election over the reducing of the GST tax, and other tax cuts. Trick or treat?
These “tricks” by the CONS and “treats” to the taxpayer must be making him sick.
Dion said that his party’s MPs are “completely in disagreement” with the mini-budget, but won’t defeat the government over it. Again, actions speak louder than words.
“We will choose our time when we decide to put this government down,” he said. Yet the longer he waits, the more time he gives to the CONS to act like they are a majority government in the giving out of “tricks” and “treats.” Don’t for one moment think that they don’t have even more tricks up their sleeve.
Garth’s kitchen cabinet has told him clearly to bring down this government NOW! Yet Stephane continues to procrastinate while he consults his crystal ball. It is analogous to Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
“We will choose our time,” he says. Yeah, sure. We have heard that for so long now, but Canadians at least want some kind of a time frame. The longer we wait, the easier it is for the CONS to look like a majority government that can keep putting the Libs on the side of reacting rather than acting proactively and with clear direction.
If not now, when? Wither Canada now? Who will fill the crisis of leadership in the land? Who will lead the charge?
We need leadership now!
Is that chicken heading for KFC or Purina?
Garth, nice jokes. I suppose thats about all you can come up with since your lib party pretty much has no position on the issues in parliament.
Abstain, abstain.
Why are you taking a pay cheque from the tax payer if you won’t do any work?
You are the cause of voter apathy today. The good part about that is no matter what the polls say today, the only poll that counts is election day.
Conservatives will get out to vote because the last thing they want is another stint with the liberanos. The dippers will get out and vote because their politics are their religion. The libs, well, they will do whatever libs do, abstain.
Would you like some hot sauce with that bait? — Garth
Tories dump Toronto candidate
Oct 31, 2007 01:46 PM
Susan Delacourt
Ottawa Bureau
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/272298
Garth Please tell me that your party is not going to run with the idea of raising the GST back up. If that’s the case you guy’s will end up with the same kind of dumbass campaign that John Tory ran. You might as well hand a Majority over to Harper right now and save us all the trouble and expense of another election.
Ain’t gonna happen. — Garth
Question to all you Cons baiting that the LIbs abstained…
How stupid would it have been to vote against tax cuts to force an election?
Extremely! And Mr. Dion isn’t stupid.
This is how things work in a minority government situation. If the opposition can live with the measure, they don’t support it, nor do they defeat it just for the sake of it. They abstain.
Garth, in my opinion, the Liberals have been too silent, and I believe you guys will have to inspire voters the same way they were inspired in 1993. Don’t make us wait too long for election day; the wait is getting unbearable!
Garth, Is the first revealed Liberal party policy really to recind on the GST tax cut? Will you campaign with if elected we Liberals will increase the GST?
No. — Garth
By Marc on 10.31.07 4:31 pm
How can you say that Garth? Dion said he would do it. Or is he changing his mind. Or are you going to rebel again and get kicked out of another party?
You know, the libs are the party of confusion. Campaigned in ’93 on eliminating the GST. Now they are the defender of it.
Campaigned on tearing up the free trade agreement, once elected immediately ratified it.
Where do libs stand on issues? We dont know. They wont vote, they change they mind.
Dippers want citizens to be dependent on government. That way they can always use fear during campaigns to stay in power. Saskatchewan comes to mind.
The Bloc want to separate. Not because they care about Quebecers but because they want to be the one with the hand that squeezes.
Libs? We dont know where they stand. They want government but have no vision of attaining it. The want power but give us no reason to give it.
One thing you can be sure of. The libs have a hidden agenda. They’ve got to cause they sure dont got a public one.
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/007320.html
Garth, check this out. Are you in favour of marketing choice for prairie farmers?
You know, the libs are the party of confusion.
What does that make the Conservatives then? Campaigned on not taxing Income Trusts.
Let’s be fair. They are all liars when it comes to election campaigns.
When the Buses roll, integrity and honesty get left behind at the curb; doesn’t matter which party.
News today says two Tory candidates have been dumped in Ontario. I wonder what that means for Halton?
It’s beginning to look like the Conservatives don’t need local EDA’s. There doesn’t seem to be any point in having candidate selection meetings any more. The PMO will tell you who your candidate is going to be.
Local input may be unnecessary and unwanted. Is this why there is still no candidate in Halton?
So was Dion misquoted when it was reported “Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said ahead of the vote that if he were elected, he would consider rescinding the GST cut — a comment that was met by consternation by one prominent member of his party.”?
No matter if you’re Liberal or Conservative you have to agree that an NDP government would be absolute suicide for Canada – can you just imagine the taxes, global issues, fighting enemies with protest signs and tie dye shirts – shudder.
They have absolutely no idea of international or even domestic finance – none whatsoever.
Soory for the post I made a couple of minutes ago Garth. In my haste I didn’t quite comprehend that he would consider rescinding the GST tax cut. Considering it and actually making it policy is different. I do wonder how long he would consider it for however as it would be an election killer most likely.
For anyone who thinks that the GST cut should have went to other things like Healthcare or Environment, you are welcome to pay extra to CCRA and I am sure they would happily take it and put it back into general revenue.
Hey Garth, I recently learned through a Liberal supporter’s post on Youtube that in March 2005, Harper and his Conservative caucus abstained from voting on the Liberal budget, to ensure passage of the 2005 Atlantic Accord
deal. So seriously, how can Harper criticize Dion for abstaining from a Throne Speech, when the PM abstained from a Budget vote in opposition?
Only petty politics could allow Harper to be so hypocritical!
Also,looks like the CPC has booted another ‘maverick’ by the name of Mark Warner! DemocracyWatch, a non-profit body responsible for monitoring Democracy in Canada, reported on VOCM Open Line that even though the FAA (Federal Accountability Act) Harper promised on the campaign trail was to have 54 provisions, the current one only has 36. Absent from the current Act? A provision forbiding the leader of the party from preventing the president of the local EDA (Electoral District Association) from choosing a local candidate, even if the party leader didn’t want that person as a candidate.
Funny isn’t it? If that provision had been passed in the act, you (Garth) would still be a CPC MP, as would Bill Casey!
That’s a scary thought. — Garth
Canadas official nopposition …..
At moment not too sure many Canadians care about the GST but do like the income tax lower rate, having said that I wonder Garth if to trash all the old tax forms and print new ones as they should all have been printed by now.
As far as next year well to many things can happen, like over run costs to Afghanistan. As far as cross border shopping, to-days lower interest rate cuts will drive our down up and jobs down right? In any rate it appears will have a one note one song one step Flaherty Sing Song man, trying to play Mr. Frinance Man.
Garth:
I was just wondering how many Canadians working south of the border (U.S.) are now working for far less money than they were a year ago due to low Amerian dollar and high Canadian dollar? They must be somewhere between a rock and and hard nosed Canadian Finance Minister with his head in the sand. hmmm wonder how they will vote?
The Energizer Bunny is your alter ego, Garth. Thanks for keeping the income trust file on the front burner.
Speaking of files……has anyone seen or heard anything of John Baird since Parliament resumed? With only 2 days left in which to manoever the opposition into an election before Christmas, Steve could be going to “surprise” Canadians and unleash something totally unpleasant for the Liberals to deal with on the Environment file. There’s no way that Mr. Dion would be able to abstain on anything to do with the environment….that’s his “hill”.
No. — Garth
By Marc on 10.31.07 4:31 pm
Hi there Mr. Garth. How can you so easily say that? It contradicts what Mr. Dion said. He clearly stated that, yes, if he wins power he will reconsider the GST cuts. How can you turn around and say “no” & “ain’t gonna happen”?
Also, can you shed some light on what is wrong with Ralph these days? He’s really lost it, eh? First he asks a question in the House, then during the answer he heckles and name calls like you’d expect from wayward teens at a talent show. Yesterday, he made a comment to Libby Davis on Duffy that was very, very rude. She was asked a question, when answering, Ralph broke in with; “there she goes yammering on” and laughed in her face. There she goes yammering on? How condescending and belittling can one get? So much for respect for female colleagues eh?
Anyway, today is hump day (Wednesday), two more to go, you must need a ride by now.
Ta ta for now! Leasa
Garth .. were you planted into the Liberal party by Harper, to spy and provide intelligence material for the Conservatives ??
Way to go. Blow my cover. — Garth
“Tories dump Toronto candidate”
So who cares. We will probably be in Afghanistan for as long as it will take for the cons to ever win a Toronto seat.
Dear Con trolls,
How come we no loger hear of the bitter infighting and division coming out of the Quebec wing of the Liberal party?
Dion ELIMINATED those despotic backstabbers.
How come we never hear of the Liberal disunity anymore, even with the likes of ‘freelancing’ Garth Turner as one of the Liberal rank and file?
Leader extraordinaire Stephane Dion has the ENTIRE Liberal caucus marching together voluntarily towards his vision of recapturing Canada for the benefit of all Canadians.
And how come we constantly hear the Con trolls on this site desperately trying to convince readers of this blog that Stephane Dion is ‘running’ from an election when he marches into the House with his entire Liberal team and delivers knock-out abstention after knock-out abstention to the DESPERATE-FOR-AN-ELECTION Harper Party?
Probably because there is a ROCK-SOLID strategy behind his unifying actions, namely…
Listening to Canadians!!!
You Harper acolytes had better pull out all of the stops because Dion is about to turn your North Star from a remote and distant galaxy into our very own Sun that provides warmth and sustenance to the entire Canadian population.
Hasta la vista Harper.
Tick, tick, tick…
Sincerely,
MB
“Libs? We dont know where they stand. They want government but have no vision of attaining it. The want power but give us no reason to give it.
“One thing you can be sure of. The libs have a hidden agenda. They’ve got to cause they sure dont got a public one.”
–By Jim on 10.31.07 5:35 pm
It appears that Dion wants to err on the side of caution rather on being bold, courageous and proactive.
He seems to want to err of the side of being conservative (maintaining the status quo) rather than on being liberal.
The liberals are starting to act like conservatives, and the conservatives like liberals.
There must be a secret plan, or a hidden agenda somewhere. I cannot help but agree that the Liberals would be better served by singing the praises of Stephane Dion and the Liberal alternate plan for tax cuts, rather than to demonize PMSH and to vehemently oppose GST tax cuts.
More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar. Present a positive and alterative vision that is superior. Then people will start voting FOR something, instead of to simply be AGAINST, or worse still, to stand for nothing, and to abstain from the democratic process.
All that is necessary for the triumph of injustice is that good people do nothing, but to sit, when they should be taking a stand.
This is specifically for Jim (and other CONS) who like to worship dubya, harper and fellow cronies.
Chretien et al may be liars, but at least they are not war mongerers.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Scholar_links_Bush_s_US_and_Hirohit_10312007.html
“One thing you can be sure of. The libs have a hidden agenda.”
By Jim on 10.31.07 5:35 pm
I agree Jim.
Dion says the GST reductions are very bad for us. If he believes that, then he must want to raise it back up. I wonder if his plans are to put it up to 6% or all the way back up to 7% again.
You think? — Garth
Dion did say last week that his party is vehemently opposed to cutting the GST.
Now Garth is saying that they would not rescind the GST cut when and if they should be re-elected to power.
How “vehement” then is the Liberal opposition to the GST cut? Where was the vehement opposition to it in today’s vote?
Perhaps as vehement as their opposition to the GST tax in the first place, with a promise to rescind the tax completely, only to leave it in place after attaining office in 1993.
Once in power, Liberals tend to maintain the status quo, to let sleeping dogs lie, to maintain what is in place, and to act more like conservatives than like liberals.
Hahahaha Funny cartoon ..each character of the cartoon represents the true image of what most people see about these politicians
Dion is a chicken (afraid in calling an election) , Stevie –Frankenstein, Layton a Clown (clowns are really scary), BQ are jesters and so forth
It now appears that only the Quebec Liberal caucusand the MSM media are interested in having an election. Does this mean that they are all afraid of losing their jobs? it is very doubtful that they have the best interests of Canada behind their rants, is there no way to stop the MSM from stirring up election speculation?
There she goes yammering on? How condescending and belittling can one get? So much for respect for female colleagues eh? Leasa
And this from someone who called another female poster a nasty bitch. Tsk Tsk
Hypocrisy at its finest.
Just one quick comment.
Did the Cons not abstain from the 2005 Budget vote because Harper didn’t want to ‘force an election’?
I guess this is one issuie where the CONs can’t scream ‘but, but, the Liberals did it FIRST’
How soon we forget, eh, when we pay attention to the ‘shiny thing over there’?
Oh, look. There’s another shiny thing.
Bah, sheeple.
Oh, hey, what`s that I see off in the distance? Is that Canada, the Canada I thought might be lost forever?
It`s getting closer, I can smell it.
Begone Con deceivers – back to that North Star where you belong.
I want my Canada back!
By MB on 10.31.07 6:59 pm
For your sake, I hope the rumours going around are not true. Leasa
Garth, in my opinion, the Liberals have been too silent, and I believe you guys will have to inspire voters the same way they were inspired in 1993. Don’t make us wait too long for election day; the wait is getting unbearable!
By Jonnay on 10.31.07 5:30 pm
Yeah – I remember the inspiration by the Libbers – scrap the GST and rip up NAFTA
It’s beginning to look like the Conservatives don’t need local EDA’s. There doesn’t seem to be any point in having candidate selection meetings any more. The PMO will tell you who your candidate is going to be.
Local input may be unnecessary and unwanted. Is this why there is still no candidate in Halton?
By Ed Brooks on 10.31.07 6:03 pm
Ahh Ed, you may want to look at how many Lib candidates Stephane Dion appointed. And come to think of it – there’s a Nova Scotia riding that will not be running in Nova Scotia. So Ed – what do ya think about your leader?
By Jim on 10.31.07 5:35 pm
I fully agree with your opinion that the liberals need to make their economic platform known to Canadians. The problem is that I really don’t think that they have one hammered out yet.
That said, I’d rather see an opposition party working on an economic policy than a sitting government implementing a foolish one.
The feds (libs and cons) need to work towards allowing you, Canadians and I to see our money in the first place. The pendulum of taxation needs to swing toward consumption and away from income. Empowering Canadians to make some wise economic decisions now (and save a few bucks) so that they can be in a position to spend a few bucks in the future makes a heck of a lot more sense than cutting the GST.
Check it out…I say raise the GST to 10% should it be accompanied with a significant income tax reduction…and I meen significant.
The GST cut was a necessary componenent of the “miny-budget” because it was a campaign promise. Trust me, Harper and Flaherty both know that this is a poor financial decision. Populists aren’t always right but we tend to vote them in anyway.
You think? — Garth
Well helps us out with his comment Garth, that he would consider it, I watched that news coverage and it appeared to me that he would seriously consider it, Will you publicly state that the LPC will not rescind the GST cuts.
Last week, Dion said that his party was “vehemently” opposed to a GST tax cut.
Today, he has softened somewhat. The promise today is that if he were elected he would “consider” rescinding the GST cut promised by the Conservatives in today’s mini budget.
“Garth, is the first revealed Liberal party policy really to recind on the GST tax cut? Will you campaign with if elected we Liberals will increase the GST?”
“No.” — Garth –By Marc on 10.31.07 4:31 pm
Notice, Marc, that Garth did not say that the Liberal Party would not rescind the GST cut if re-elected.
He is wisely saying that he would not campaign for that if it were, in fact, to be part of the Liberal Party of Canada platform.
So what Dion would “consider” campaigning for, and “consider” making official policy, Garth is saying that he would definitely not campaign for.
Now, all we need to know is, what will be the official position of the Liberal Party of Canada on the GST tax cut in their official campaign platform? Will they take an official, public position, or is there a hidden agenda?
I appreciate Garth’s forthrightness in saying that he would definitely not campaign for such a plank in his party’s platform, were Dion’s thinking out loud to become the official party position.
It looks like more than one Liberal MP is trying to distance themselves from Dion’s remarks.
Again, the cry of the hour is for leadership that leads. In times like this, one needs to either lead, follow or get out of the way.
P.S. Garth I thought you were the maverick.
LMAO
Meanwhile, CBC News has learned that Ottawa-Vanier Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger wanted to stand up and vote against the economic statement.
But Bélanger was informed that he would be expelled from the Liberal caucus if he voted against the motion instead of abstaining, sources told CBC News.
Although Bélanger was in the House for question period, he was not present for the vote.
A perfect foil for FOX, who made an unfounded claim that al-quaeda was possibly behind the California fires!
Where is there more (in)accurate reporting than FOX? Maybe Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity?!
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SKBK380&show_article=1
All taxation is based on coercion, control and imposition.
They govern best who govern least. It is only by taking personal responsibility that a society can grow and mature, for maturity comes with the acceptance of responsibility.
Depending on government shekels means being bound by government shackles, and keeping people in a permanent state of dependence and immaturity, a perennial state of being a child that looks to the state as parent and provider.
When we mature, we develop not only a personal responsibility to look after our own family, but a social conscience to help with the needs of others.
We need some government to protect the lives of our citizens, but in many other areas, the government should get out of our way as much as possible.
There is no tax that is a good tax. We do not want to be perennially the child of the great father who art in Ottawa.
Just as there is no good tax, there is no tax cut that is a bad tax cut. Any amount of money that is put bask into the pocket of the tax-payer places a greater responsibility on the individual for how his money will be spent.
If he mis-spends his money unwisely, he will have only himself to blame, and he will have to bear the consequences. That is the only way that people grow up and mature.
If, on the other hand, it is the government who mis-spends our money, and who makes mistakes, then we have nothing but this incessant griping and grumbling and name-calling about the government’s policies in how they mis-spend our money, when we should not be depending on government (like a child would depend on his parent) in the first place.
Some of us are not even looking to government for ultimate answers. We say, “Keep the individual as free and responsible as possible, so that the more self-control and self-government we have, the less do we need external controls, rules, regulations and coercions.”
I read some news today oh boy…
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says don’t expect more tax cuts in his next budget.
Flaherty says the wide-ranging tax cuts announced by the federal Conservatives yesterday are likely all that Canadians will see in the foreseeable future.
He says it will take some time for the latest reductions to work their way through the system.
The Tory government’s tax-cutting plan, including a one-percentage-point reduction in the GST, passed a confidence motion today in the Commons.
The package also provides broad-based income and corporate tax cuts, some of which take effect retroactive to last Jan. 1.
That’s all of it, in it’s entirety. No spin, no splash. Just, that’s all folks. They weren’t going to do the 1% GST (this one) so soon, the dropping of the personal income rate to 15% was smoke and mirrors from the beginning anyway. No wonder that it’s retroactive. It’s our bloody money.
So promises and hopes “but it matters little with the economy humming along strongly and federal government surplus already at $8.7 billion after the first five months of the fiscal year”. What about by the end of the year?
Again, never a word for the homeless and poverty or just child poverty in this rich rich country. Was he not paying attention when Miloon Kothari, the UN’s envoy on homelessness dropped by. Or the Dalai Lama.
These men, one with a specific message, one with a general message, but not so different, if you pay attention, and Jim Flaherty and Steve Harper have it in their power to make a positive difference, or not, with our tax dollars. Which they are going to spend anyway. Renting helicopters is the last I heard. Civilian contractors, thru the states? I’m not sure. Ask Hillier.
And nothing guaranteed towards cities aging infrastructure, Or increasing healthcare wait times, (that was on the last list, done now I guess). All the things that people need.
Big Box day care is being welcomed into assorted provinces so Steve and little what’s his face will happily pass the buck on that one while they open the door. In Canada it will be called 123 Busy Beavers. In Australia where it’s based it’s ABC Learning Centres. And it’s not what the liberals or anyone else had in mind when we spoke of universal daycare. This is daycare by walmart. No good. For profit, Big profit, traded publicly. But hell, it’s only our kids. Big Flim Flam Jim is gonna love it.
Now if only they could get that majority, but they figure they don’t need one. But when they do, Jim will Flip Flop and there will be a, are you ready for it, a tax break! Wow, and he said no more. Yeah, and Steve said” Remember this, remember this.” We did.
Geo
Mr Turner
You have to admit the tax cuts are good for the country. Of course the Liberals would do it different but all in all they are positive steps.
In addition Harper is not such a bad guy. for one thing he is in charge and it is noticeable. The Quebec pool numbers are not all that great fo the Liberls. They are running just three points in front of the NDP. This does not look good
Jonnay,
that was a fond wish at 5:30. But the Libs didn’t inspire voters in 1993; it was Mulroney and his PCs who had inspired voters with disgust, and the Libs looked good in comparison.
How many years will it take Harper to achieve a similar level of voter dissatisfaction? Well, if we have to wait until the LPC reinvents itself as a national party and rises from the ashes of its October collapse, we are going to find out.
Personally, I would have liked to have seen the neo-Cons out of office by now, but that would have presupposed a
credible alternative.
Chretien et al may be liars, but at least they are not war mongerers.
Finally some policy .
Dear Leasa,
Harper’s days are numbered.
Tick, tick, tick…
I had to laugh when I saw Flaherty on the news talking about the tax cuts. He actually said that the Conservatives LOWERED the income tax rate AGAIN…what a crock! This is the same party that RAISED the income tax rate by 0.5% in their last budget. Now, all they’ve done is given back Canadians the 0.5% they took to finance the GST cut in the last budget.
The GST cut is simply BAD, BAD tax policy…..see the following from the Globe & Mail. Too bad the average Canadian simply doesn not understand economic fundamentals….so Harper can buy their votes.
The GST cut: a triumph of politics over economics
Jeffrey Simpson
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a master’s degree in economics. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty attended Princeton University, an elite U.S. Ivy League school. They are both well-educated, intelligent men.
How then to explain their support for a idea so demonstrably stupid that, had they defended the idea in an undergraduate term paper, they would have flunked the course.
The idea is to cut the goods and services tax from 7 per cent to 6, and then to 5 per cent. The first one-point drop, at a cost of about $5-billion, came in the Harper government’s initial budget. The Speech from the Throne proclaims that the second point drop will be forthcoming, likely in the next budget.
Just how stupid is this idea? This week, The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business asked 20 economists across Canada, and from across the political spectrum, about the wisdom of cutting the GST. Sixteen of 20 said it was a bad idea, two said it was irrelevant and two thought it sensible. Eighty per cent, therefore, denounced the idea; 10 per cent supported it. They read the Harper-Flaherty GST tax cut term paper and gave it an F.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development recently rendered the same general verdict on tax policy. Said the OECD: Consumption taxes are the way to go, offset by lower personal and corporate taxes.
Why? Personal and corporate income tax cuts, as every economist knows, tend to stimulate savings and investment, which is what an economy needs to become more productive and competitive, thereby raising overall living standards. Lower consumption taxes stimulate more – wait for it – consumption, some of which leaks out of the economy in the form of purchasing imports and taking trips abroad.
If such a widespread consensus exists among economists across Canada and in the OECD, why are Messrs. Harper and Flaherty persisting with an idea they must know as economists to be stupid?
Answer? Politics, pure and simple. The GST cut is the triumph of base politics over sensible economics.
When the Harperites sat down to craft their last campaign document, they observed that the Liberals had in fact cut personal income taxes, but the public had not seen or appreciated those cuts. In fact, polls demonstrated that Canadians didn’t even know their taxes had been reduced.
So the Harperites decided to give Canadians a tax cut they could see, feel and therefore appreciate at voting time; namely a reduction in the GST, whose creation by the Mulroney government had been attended with much political controversy.
A sensible government – or sensible opposition parties – would not only scrap the forthcoming reduction but reinstitute the previously cut point, and then add another. The result would be about $15-billion additional dollars for the federal government.
Then, the government should follow the lead of Canada’s best finance minister, Carole Taylor of British Columbia, who intends to levy a carbon tax to slow down the increase of greenhouse gas emissions and then reverse them.
A carbon tax on emissions, coupled with a “cap-in-trade†emissions market, lower mandatory vehicle emissions standards and renewable energy portfolios are among the most important policies for getting a grip on reducing emissions. (“Intensity†emissions improvements, of the kind favoured by oil and gas executives, the Alberta government and the Harperites merely slow down the increase in emissions and are therefore useless as serious policy.) With the new revenues from an 8 per cent GST and a carbon tax, whose size would rise over time, the federal government could then dramatically slash both personal and corporate income taxes.
The net result of such a shift should be to leave the government with the same amount of money as before; that is, be revenue-neutral. But the positive effects would be twofold.
First, personal and corporate income tax reduction would stimulate savings, profits and investments. (Low-income Canadians should be at the top of the list for help, and some of the money could be used for competition-enhancing investments in infrastructure.) Second, the country would over time become greener.
Thus far, the Harper government’s tax and spending policies have been deeply disappointing for the country’s competitive position.
First, the government handed over billions to the provinces to solve the mythical “fiscal imbalance,†which did nothing for productivity and competitiveness, but solved a political problem in Quebec.
Second, the government will have drilled a $10-billion hole in federal revenues through the two-point GST cut that will do nothing for productivity and competitiveness when compared with every other available tax cut, as the economists interviewed by the ROB illustrated this week.
Both policies represented the triumph of politics over economics, and short-term political considerations over long-term economic thinking.
Instead of this nonsense, tax policy should involve raising the GST, introducing carbon taxes, and then offsetting these new revenues by reductions in personal and corporate taxes to make Canada more efficient, competitive, fair and green.
What’s going on with Brian Mulroney? Is’nt he a Conservative? Does’nt sound good.
Garth, it’s starting to look like you choose the wrong horse. Perhaps you should have taken Elizabeth May up on her offer, her and Dion are spending the same amount of time standing up in the house.
Garth, quick question. Wasn’t the Marshalls IT protest today? How did it go and how many people showed up?
Ahh Ed, you may want to look at how many Lib candidates Stephane Dion appointed. And come to think of it – there’s a Nova Scotia riding that will not be running in Nova Scotia. So Ed – what do ya think about your leader?
By Catherine on 10.31.07 7:39 pm
This is the attitude that makes both the Liberals and Conservatives look like hypocrits. Both parties are elitist and dictatorial. They only care about voters for that split second it takes to mark a ballot.
People need to either take back the parties from the self-serving party elite or get rid of these anti-democratic clubs completely. Instead, the local associations sit back and wait for their controllers to tell them what to do.
I have the deepest respect for those members of riding associations who dare confront the dictators from the center. They may end up turfed from the party but at least they will have managed to reveal the true nature of parties.
Local input may be unnecessary and unwanted. Is this why there is still no candidate in Halton?
By Ed Brooks on 10.31.07 6:03 pm
Ed you seem to have all the answers….if you’re interested, I could shoot you a couple of bucks and you run? Then again bitching and complaining is much easier no?
More conservatives breaking free from tyrrany.
Tories drop 2 would-be Ontario candidates
Mark Warner, Brent Barr no longer party’s picks
Last Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 | 8:34 PM ET
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/10/31/dropped-candidates.html
Warner said he was ousted in part for giving an interview to a national magazine about working with a former Liberal cabinet minister.
“I was told that when a reporter comes up like that, you say no comment,” said Warner. “I am offended by it, I think it’s important to use the modern means of communication to reach people.”
Guess I can go buy my next used vehicle south of the border in January…save 1% when I bring it home. What a joke. I’d rather have the $5 billion go to Health or Environment. This is what Dion should have said….not just raise the tax…tell us what he would do better. Dion needs a crash course in marketing.
Will you publicly state that the LPC will not rescind the GST cuts.
By KH on 10.31.07 7:47 pm
Well I guess not. As Plato once said,
“Your silence gives consent.”
I read a headline about some guy in the US who accidentally shot himself in both legs. If he recovers in time, maybe he can be recruited to run in the next Liberal leadership convention. If he improves his aim and learns to shoot for the feet, he would be a shoe in.
By Catherine on 10.31.07 7:39 pm
Catherine, I am not and never have been a member of the liberal party, so Dion is not my leader.
I am a member of the PC party in Halton, unless they have decided to kick me out for suffering from the affliction called ‘independant thought’.
I see you are also advancing the slogan Vote Conservative not quite as bad as those other guys.
Ike above wrote that there was no such thing as a good tax, but he added that the government must do things to protect its citizens. My response re ‘no such thing as a good tax’: Just one example- taxation for education – education is vital to economic growth and prosperity. My response to ‘gov’t. must do something to protect its citizens’: Gotta look at the US for my answer. The US puts all the tax burden for its wars on the lower classes and gives tax cuts to the wealthiest class. So they have a tax system in the US all right, and they are using it to the advantage of the rich, which brings me back to ‘no such thing as a good tax’: education and taxation for education are the only things that can, ahem, level the playing field (where have I heard that said before?) and keep the rich from treating the country’s finances as their treasury (admittedly, an example from the US). So, the bottom line in an almost taxless country is: pay for wars on backs of the less fortunate and don’t give them any services in return, i.e., services that might upset the status quo which works only to the favour of the rich. Do we want to see that in Canada?
A sensible government – or sensible opposition parties – would not only scrap the forthcoming reduction but reinstitute the previously cut point, and then add another. The result would be about $15-billion additional dollars for the federal government.
By TS on 10.31.07 8:44 pm
Spoken like a true civil servant.
The 5th Estate carried a terrific story this evening about Brian Mulroney receiving secret payments from Schreiber. This should be pursued hotly in the HOC as it appears that Harper has been trying to brush the issue quietly into a corner since Mulroney was part of the Conservative transition team.
Calls should be loud for a judicial inquiry! It appears that Mulroney may have recently claimed the $300,000 with Revenue Canada. If true, this would mean that he committed purgery since he earlier testified under oath that he did not receive any payments.
Link here: http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/unauthorizedchapter/
By Fandango on 10.31.07 9:18 pm
Fandango, you are most welcome to donate your unwanted GST reduction to CCRA. It would only go to general revenue but maybe some of the money might find its way into health care and the environment.
I see you are also advancing the slogan Vote Conservative not quite as bad as those other guys.
By Ed Brooks on 10.31.07 9:20 pm
It is always a choice of lesser evils, sad but true.
Greg,
your 9:20 shows again that you have a way with words. It also assumes that it is a leaderhip problem in the LPC.
I am beginning to suspect that there is more to it than that: there is no party behind the leader. If there had been, they would have steeled the leader’s resolve and challenged the government. As it was, there was only a bunch of MPs worried about surviving and hanging on for better political times.
The only thing I would like to know about Dion as a leader is if he knew the state of the party when he was telling Harper that the Throne Speech better contain certain things or else. If he was bluffing with a busted flush, he should have just kept quiet. On the other hand, if he didn’t know his hand, he shouldn’t have been in the game.
If Garth can see the whites of their eyes appearing, he must be using a powerful telescope.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN Everyone!
By Lana on 10.31.07 7:18 pm
Good morning Lana, I guess you didn’t read my response to you in the other thread. Of course you didn’t. Anyway, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it’s a duck. Leasa
“I am a member of the PC party in Halton, unless they have decided to kick me out for suffering from the affliction called ‘independant thought’.”
By Ed Brooks on 10.31.07 9:20 pm
Ed – With Conservatives like you, who needs liberals.
You personify the forces that are destroying the Conservative brand. It’s a sad thing to watch. — Garth
By Haltonjohn on 11.01.07 7:54 am
Independent thought is no longer welcome in the Conservative Party? Thanks for the warning.
Really, you like being told what to think and do?
By Herb on 10.31.07 10:50 pm
Well Herb, there is also the consideration of all is not necessarily as it may appear. Ever notice the guy who professes bravado, yet doesn’t enter the fight, cause he let someone else hold him back? Or maybe the sneaky snakes indicated they wanted to fight to make him feel comfortable in yipping, then pulled the rug. Nothing left to do then but eat some crow.
As to the lack of support, I think one answer lies in the history of choosing Dion as leader and the wisdom or lack thereof. This move is not helping them to rally support and fill the war chest.
You are bang on about the running of one’s mouth. It’s not an academic sounding board forum. You know, throw it out, let it bounce back and see how it sounds. People are listening.
As to Gart’s scope, I didn’t lend him mine. Maybe he borrowed one from Taliban Jack. AKA Jackolantern!
Tee Hee.
By C. B. Innes on 10.31.07 9:07 pm
Indeed, I have been equal opportunity in my criticisms.
During the election campaign, I was out there pleading with people to try th Conservatives because I believed that given the opportunity, Conservatives would respect their own members and demonstrate more honesty and integrity than the Liberals.
Turns out, I was embarassingly wrong.
I don’t accept the “But, we aren’t quite as bad as those other guys” slogan that is developing from posters here.
Good morning Lana, I guess you didn’t read my response to you in the other thread. Of course you didn’t. Anyway, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it’s a duck. Leasa
There ya go..assuming again! Of course I read your response..if you are referring to the one where you argued against yourself. You can’t have it both ways, Leasa. You can’t call people names for calling you names, and not be called a hypocrite…or a duck. (IMHO)
Ed Brooks on 11.01.07 8:31 am,
Many of us discovered during the merger campaign that they there was little respect for any member that challenged the ideas behind the merger
Ain’t gonna happen. — Garth
It appears to me that you and Dion are on a different page about GST.
So tell me Garth, Why did Dion stated on National TV that the Liberals would look at increasing the GST if the Liberals will not roll back the Conservatives GST cuts as you stated above?
Hi Garth you maveric;to bad you do not have any cazoonies as Mr.Balanger does;you are just another member of “her magestys loyal abstainers”,who enjoys being pu$$y whipped by steffi.maveric???Hee Hee