I am growing sick and tired of those Conservatives bitching and moaning about Stephen Harper's lack of "fiscal conservatism". Maybe you are upset that there has not been a significant reduction of spending in the past four years and I am fully on board with reducing expenditures, but in a minority government with an opportunistic opposition what is the alternative? Each time you try to reduce spending on anything, the Liberals start screaming about how you are taking services away from Canadians. Neither the NDP nor the Bloc will be a willing dance partner in fiscal conservatism, and thus compromise is the only option.
Perhaps you did not agree with the stimulus package, but recall that we were just coming back from narrowly escaping Stephane Dion's attempted coup and Iggy demanded a large stimulus for his support of the budget. The Prime Minister compromised and introduced a stimulus. The result, the TSX is up 60% in the last year, our GDP growth has exceeded expectations, consumer spending is strong, and our country has weathered this recession as well as any country in the industrialized world. What's your gripe with our monetary policy? We have had one of the strongest economic recoveries on the planet, and people are waking up today complaining about our monetary policy?
Given the circumstances under which the Conservative Party has had to operate, I'd say things are going fantastic! I would love to see a Conservative majority, and if that happens then I will judge the sincerity of Stephen Harper's "fiscal conservatism". Until then I will accept the reality of operating in a minority government where we require the support of a borderline bipolar opposition to pass confidence motions.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!!
ReplyDelete(It's starting to sound like a Free Dominion bitch fest around these parts, eh?)
Video is done, not as funny as I like, but if I get some video of empty seats in QP I may edit and add those in later.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, totally agree.
ReplyDeleteWay to go Iceman, it's about time someone put some perspective around this issue that broadly embraces an entire country's needs VS a small collection of 'he should fall on his sword' PM bashers.
ReplyDeleteIt's tiresome and is very self serving. These people would do what differently? Let the left run the country into the ground for another generation of Socialism just so they could be all warm and principled as their version of fiscal conservatives?
Even then, they wouldn't all agree. Even then, they would see this differently.
EXACTLY!!! The Opposition is angry because Stephen Harper is in charge. They are even angrier that he has given them very few opportunities to bolster their argument that he's doing a disservice to Canada by leading the way he is.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the stimulus, Harper took that from them and basically said, 'Fine. You want stimulus? Here's your stimulus. But it's gong to get done my way, not yours. And you can't complain, because you asked for stimulus $, and now you have it.'
I am 100% in agreement as to how Mr. Harper's time in office is going...
Let's face it, if Stephen Harper were not in power right now, it would be Prime Minister Dion, Prime Minister Ignatieff, or God help us Prime Minister Layton. I am thankful that our PM is willing to make compromises to stay in power. I'd want an election over those alternatives...
ReplyDeleteGood one Iceman.
ReplyDeleteAfter we get a majority and if the HRC is still afloat, then I will be bitching big time.
Despite a minority, the Harper govt has accomplished a huge lot.
Oh noes, the opposition and media are mean to Harper! If only the CPC had someone with communication skills and strategic ability. Isn't that what Harper's supposed to be? But just because he's failed at every major point up to now doesn't mean we shouldn't blindly put trust in him. Thinking is for elitists.
ReplyDeletePMSH, faced with 2 of the worst Lib leaders ever has NEVER been able to clear majority territory, even when the economy was roaring. And, Jennifer Lynch. He sucks. He is a strategic failure and will become a historical footnote, NOTHING MORE.
Anonymous, I strongly disagree with your assertion that "he's failed at every major point up to now". I think the 2008 result was strong considering the global economy crashed in the middle of the campaign, and if the economy was "roaring" in 2006 then it should have favoured the incumbent, which it did not.
ReplyDeleteSimply put, you are wrong.
"if the economy was "roaring" in 2006 then it should have favoured the incumbent"
ReplyDeleteUm. What? So economies are only strong if incumbents are favored? This is a brilliant illogic device! The next time I get a crappy test result, I will go up to the professor and tell him/her that if their test was any good, I would have gotten an A. Unless they have a functioning brain, in which case I should not make excuses for failure like you are.
So economies are only strong if incumbents are favored? This is a brilliant illogic device!
ReplyDeleteNo, when the economy is strong it favours the incumbent, and when it is weak it favours the challenger. That is fact. I was challenging the assertion the Stephen Harper could not win an election even when the economy is strong. Well he has only fought one election as the incumbent, and it was right after the American housing market collapsed. If the economy was strong in 2004 or 2006, you would not be able to credit the opposition. If it was grand, it should have favoured the party in power.
The economy was throbbing hot in 2006-2007 and Harper could not break 40% consistently end of story full stop.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry, I forgot the 2007 election campaign...
ReplyDelete"I'm so sorry, I forgot the 2007 election campaign..."
ReplyDeleteGood thing because there wasn't one!
"The economy was throbbing hot in 2006-2007 and Harper could not break 40% consistently end of story full stop."
It wasn't everywhere and Harper actually did break 40%, 50, 60 and 70%. He received 72.9% in his riding, better than ANY OTHER leader and most other MP'S which is the way Canadians ARE SUPPOSED to vote. They don't vote for a PM they vote for an MP but don't let any facts get in the way of a good temper tantrum.
''PMSH, faced with 2 of the worst Lib leaders ever..''
ReplyDeleteThat is hillarious anon,
because these duds are the BEST the current LPC had to offer,
and PMSH won a majority, 54% in the ROC in election 2008!!!!
Excellent post! The biggest challenge facing conservatives has always been conservatives themselves - way too much infighting, not enough patience.
ReplyDeleteThere are many things that I dont' like about the Harper government: not fiscally conservative enough for my tastes; way too supportive of the Global Warming(TM) and carbon-trading scam.
But ... as you point out, what's the alternative? The Coalition of the Power-hungry? If we want to gripe about the size of the current deficit, imagine what it would be like if those clowns had been able to form a government. Imagine the money being raped from the pockets of Canadians to "save them" from the weather via carbon trading.
It boggles my mind just how utterly INSANE the left has become, and because they cloak themselves in good intentions and no-one calls them on their insanity, they figure they have the political green light to push for ever more government intervention in the economy and in people's lives...at profit to themselves, of course. Doing well while doing good, don't you know.
Being cautious, compromising, and, yes by playing political hard-ball whenever possible in order to stay in power is acheiving something that hasn't been seen in Canadian politics for d*mn near a century: people are growing accustomed to Conservatives in power. Even the Star is begining to notice, and publishing stories like polls showing that Canadian attitudes are shifting, ever so slightly, to the right (though to be honest, I think it's more a sign that the chattering classes are beginning to recognize that there is strength in traditional, conservative values - not that the people have changed that much).
Well done Stephen Harper and the CPC! You may not be ideal, but you're better by miles than the alternative.