Have Conservative ridings received more money from the government stimulus than non Conservative ridings? Some people certainly think so, and if that were to be true would anyone be truly surprised? I am certain that if you analyzed representative democracies across the world and across time, you would find governments rewarding the people who elect them to office. I am not saying that it is right or wrong or that it is happening in this case, just that I'd expect it to happen pretty much everywhere, especially with spending as discretionary as a temporary economic stimulus that many economists argued was unnecessary in the first place (and demanded by the opposition as a condition for not collapsing the government).
The irony being that if the opposition or their friends in the media want to expose this as a travesty of justice, they should be warned that it might backfire. First, they aren't alleging that Tory ridings received all the funding, just a slight disproportion. Are people living in Conservative ridings going to be outraged that the Government spent a little extra on them? Second, you are sending the message to people living in Liberal ridings that they can get a better deal by voting Conservative. Personally I have not analyzed the stimulus data, so I don't even know if there is any significant difference in spending. I just don't think that telling people that they will be better off electing a Tory is a sound strategy for a Liberal.
Besides, if stimulus spending is completely partisan as alleged, the Tories should want to spend money on non Conservative ridings to try and make those voters happy. We are in a minority government, and news flash, the Conservatives would like to win more seats than they currently hold.
Well,for many decades B.C. riding's received a mere 3% of our infrastructure tax dollars back.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out were those funds did go. One only has to travel east.
Given the historic dismal track record of many Federal Governments, I will not be losing any sleep nor will I try to justify today's funds being spent out here in Canada's Boonies.
About time and a big thanks to Mr Harper!
melwilde
Here we go again.
ReplyDeleteSame b.s. as this time last year:
Oct 28, 2009
''...For weeks, Ignatieff and his MPs had been trying to draw a pattern of Conservative favouritism at public expense. Lately their allegations had finally been getting some traction, at least in the media.
Much of that was lost when Smitherman countered that his Liberal government had had plenty of input in the federal spending exercise.
By the same token, the deputy premier rebutted assertions that an unfriendly Conservative government was shortchanging the city of Toronto....''
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/717197--h-eacute-bert-stephen-harper-finds-friend-in-dalton-mcguinty
Nothing has changed, the Municipalities and Prvoinces pick the projects and send in application for stimulus funding, to be approved by the Feds.....
summer media is so very boring, eh.
like watching Lavergne and Shirley reruns
I would be interested to see infrastructure spending numbers riding by riding during the 12 years of Liberal majority rule. It could very well be that ridings that tend Conservative were neglected and thus are in greater need of renovations.
ReplyDeleteHey all,
ReplyDeleteI recall Chretien flying in a helicopter over rush-hour in the lower mainland, and his response was if BC wanted it fixed, they should send more Liberal MP's to Ottawa. So all those bitching about the spending now can go to hell.
Story at NNW a few days ago that the majority of stimulus money in Quebec went to 11 ridings, then stressed that 4 of them were Conservative. Ignoring the fact that 7 had to be in non tory ridings.
ReplyDeleteHere we go again.
ReplyDeleteSame b.s. as this time last year:
Oct 28, 2009
''...For weeks, Ignatieff and his MPs had been trying to draw a pattern of Conservative favouritism at public expense. Lately their allegations had finally been getting some traction, at least in the media.
Much of that was lost when Smitherman countered that his Liberal government had had plenty of input in the federal spending exercise.
By the same token, the deputy premier rebutted assertions that an unfriendly Conservative government was shortchanging the city of Toronto....''
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/717197--h-eacute-bert-stephen-harper-finds-friend-in-dalton-mcguinty
Nothing has changed, the Municipalities and Provinces pick the projects and send in application for stimulus funding, to be approved by the Feds.....
summer media is so very boring, eh.
like watching Lavergne and Shirley reruns
Some big municipalities could not get their act together, and that is where lots of Lib Votes are. It is their onerous codes and procedures that may have slowed things. This was a two-year window. Not all municipalities can move that fast, As well, I am happy that stimulus money went to the smaller ridings, as job creation is more important to sustain those communities trhough the down times.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of old time stories about highway paving in Quebec ending in a dirt road that voted the other way. Of course the paving of that provincial highway continued in the subsequent riding that voted for the party in power. In some ways that makes sense but it doesn't make a unified democracy. Maritime ridings are also notorious for their local corruption based on the party in power whether provincial or federal. It is generally known there that corruption prevails. In my lifetime, it used to be rare that such corruption never prevailed west of Quebec. Today I am not so sure of the political morality anywhere.
ReplyDeleteHey, Kevin Page speaks, flip flops!
ReplyDeleteConference Board says Canada may even balance the books 2 YEARS earlier, if the govt stays the course.
OTTAWA — The sharp rebound from recession could put the federal government on the road to balancing its books a year ahead of schedule, budget watchdog Kevin Page said Monday in a reversal from previous statements.
The parliamentary budget officer has often quarrelled with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty over the government’s projections for the deficit, maintaining the shortfall could not be overcome without major spending cuts or tax hikes.
.. Ottawa on course to report a surplus in the 2014-15 fiscal period, one year earlier than Flaherty projected, the think-tank estimated.
In fact, if the economy performs just slightly better than predicted and Ottawa sticks to its spending restraint plans, the Conference Board said a balanced budget could be booked as early as 2013-14.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1196123.html