A little unsolicited advice to NFLD Liberals

Hey Judy and Andrew, hate to have to tell you this but you are federal MPs not provincial MPs.  The budget that you will vote against is a budget for all of Canada, not just Newfoundland and Labrador.

It may be true that N-L will lose some future money thanks to the Harper Cons but let's not take it out on Canadians.

Vote for the budget with very public reservations.  Tell Canadians that you are doing this for them.  That will give you the credibility to then fight for the rights of Newfoundlanders.

Reality bites.  Harper is a crook and Cons are Harper lemnings.  They will not change teir ways before the budget vote,  Why give them the satisfaction of having a budget for Canadians defeated by Liberals.  And kid yourselves.  If the vote fails it will be put on the back of Liberals.  Flakee and his Dipper and Dull-garcon's BQers are already on the record of being against Canadians.  Are you going to add your names to that list?

Feeling sorry for Jimmy

You have to feel sorry for Jim Flaherty, our wonderful Federal FinMin.

He got into Ontario politics in 1995, back in the days of NDP Premier Bob Rae.  Rae was fighting a recession in Ontario and started to spend the budget into the red, resulting in a deficit of about $12 billion.  Driven to the point of madness by the free spending Rae and convinced that he could do better, Jimmy joined Mike Harris in becoming FinMin in the Ontario Commonsense Revolution that led the government to downloading programs and costs to municipalities and a claim to have balanced their budget only to have it revealed that they left a $5.8 billion deficit after they lost power.

That's the guy you want during a crisis!

So here we are, 14 years later and the Feds are facing the same set of circumstances that faced Rae.  What does Flaherty do that was better than Rae to address the situation?  Nothing!

He does the same as did Rae - but he does it, according to him - under duress.  "I didn't want to go into deficit," spouts Jimmy.  It's not his fault that he is a poor minister of finance.  It is the Peter Principle in action.

There are a lot of smart asses out there that are convinced that the sun rises and sets up their butts.  Take for example David "As God is my Witness" Warren.  His Sunday column in the Ottawa Citizen tells the story of three "punks" who tried to jump onto the back door of a Toronto trolley without paying.  The driver confronted the punks by yelling "I am not a liberal."  The punks rapidly departed.  Warren declares that this statement told the punks that the driver was not going to be intimidated by them.  Fair enough.  But it is also possible that the punks interpreted this declaration as a statement that the driver was carrying a gun and was ready to shoot.  Of course Warren, a staunch Conservative and friend to all those who can further his career (like Conrad Black),  would never think of that.

Oh, oh. We are in trouble now!

The Minster of Finance, the Honourable James Flaherty, told a group of American citizens (lawyers and potential investors) at the tony New York Yacht Club that, "Canada is not an island." Pretty good so far. He got his geography right. He then went on to say that Canada is fiscally well positioned to "weather the storm" of an American recession. That is a good positive statement meant to impart confidence. Hear, hear, Jimmy.

Then the wheels fell off.

Jimmy pledged that he will deliver a balanced budget. Oops. Many Canadians, especially Ontarians, will remember that Jimmy used the same words during a provincial election when he was Minister of Finance for Ontario. Unfortunately Jimmy's idea of a balance budget differed from eveyone else. He left Ontario with a "balanced" $5 billion deficit.

The current Liberal government in Ontario has eliminated that deficit, delivered REAL balanced budgets and started the uploading of services from the cities that Jimmy downloaded while balancing his budgets.

So does Jimmy applaud the government of Ontario? Nope. Not his style. He has carried out a relentless attack on Ontario over corporate taxes. Alberta, which is rolling in cash has reduced its corporate tax rate. So has Manitoba and New Brunswick and many other provinces. Ontario is the lone hold-out. Fair enough, but let's look at the facts behind the rhetoric.

Question? What do all provinces (except Alberta), who have lowered their corporate tax rates have in common?

Answer? Equalization payments which distributes funds gleaned from the only two "Have " provinces, Alberta and Ontario, to the "Have-nots", which is the rest of the provinces.

Is it safe to assume that, if Equalization did not exist, "Have not" provinces would not be able to reduce tax rates and that Ontario could have? I think so.

So Jimmy is saying to US lawyers and investors, over shrimp and Johnny Walker Blue at the NYYC, that Canada is a great place to invest. I wonder if he is also reiterating his off-mentioned slam that Ontario is the last place in Canada he would invest?

The Hon. James Flaherty, Minister of self-promotion and slight-of-hand.