Sunday, January 08, 2006

So which is it?

Over the past 36 hours we have heard three distinctly different stories coming from the Liberals:

The Tories will increase tax burden (CTV.ca)

Harper's Platform promises can't be delivered (Liberal.ca)

Tory spending would result in deficit. (Globe & Mail)

So, despite the fact that the Conservatives are going to 'increase (the) tax burden,' their promises are so expensive they won't be able to deliver on them, so they'll have to cut programmes and (or?) they would result in deficit. I guess Martin's crack team of strategists couldn't decide which scare tactic would be most effective, so they decided to throw 'em all out there and let us take our pick.

Those who follow these things closely know that not implementing a planned cut in the tax rate by the out-going government is not 'raising taxes'. It is simply not keeping a promise made by someone else. Bad optics, but prudent fiscal management. The Conservative plan was costed in the several months during which they put together their platform, and based on specific numbers. A sputtering Liberal government made a flurry of promises and announcements. It isn't incumbent on Harper and his team to rewrite their tax policy based on a dying government's attempt to buy the voting public. The cut in the tax rate might well be a good thing -- but the Conservative plan should unfold as it was written -- if they were to adopt this cut in the tax rate, having not budgeted for it in their policy statements, they would be accused of not costing their platform properly.

But all that's irrelevant, because we know it's just more Liberal spin. And the other two statements strike me as utter stupidity but just to back that up -- visit Candace at Planet X.

The Liberals claim to have 'costed' the Conservative platform. So, now they're psychic. Not all of the Tory platform has been released yet - but they've had their team working away all day, crunching numbers. Sounds kind of like baking the cake before you've read the whole ingredient list.

Maybe if they spent as much time working on their own platform as they do looking over the shoulders of the Conservatives, the Liberals might actually have some original policy.

canadianna

6 comments:

Derek Richards said...

Take a look at the CTV poll and the headlines from the Star and Sun of Toronto.

My hunch is that its time to unload on Harper with the free help of the media of course.

Lets just keep blogging the truth.

Candace said...

That poll is quite interesting; particularly on the percentage of Canadians that relate to CPC vs. Liberal values.

Martin & his buddies probably won't be sleeping real well tonight.

TonyGuitar said...

Too late for details now.
Save the Liberal party. Replace conservative industrialist Martin with a * Liberal *leader.

While my personal politics don't really matter, I think it is important to talk to as many undecided voters as possible and present this overview.

Liberal Voter ?

This time I*m voting for Harper because the Liberals need a time out to clear out the dead wood and renew . Respect for liberals is at such a low ebb, that if elected as a weak minority, the Liberal Party could go out in flames just as the Social Credit party did in B.C.

Industrialist Paul Martin at the helm makes the Liberals more of a Conservative Corporate party rather than a true Liberal party. Martin fired his Canadian marine crews and hired on non-union Central and South American crews. He also registered his Canadian Steamship Lines in Barbados in order to avoid paying Canadian taxes.
The Liberal party needs a liberal leader.

Those moves are acceptable for an industrialist but they are not appropriate for the Prime Minister of Canada. Martin is banking on the fact that most Canadian voters simply do not have the time to read the news in detail in these busy modern times.

You may be aware of the Sponsorship scandal, but that is only the tip of a very big iceberg. There are well over 200 losses and thefts of Canada’s public funds and the list is still growing.

http://BendGovernment.blogspot.com

http://Scamslist.blog.com

These losses run well into the billions of dollars and have contributed to the loss of services in emergency hospital departments and countless other areas.

Today’s NDP literature refers to a minimum total scams figure of $10 billion.

Time for a Conservative vote. If the Harper team fails to do the job, we can always vote the Liberals back in and by that time the Liberals will have a new respect for integrity and efficiency and a real *Liberal* leader.
Sound logical? TG

Mark said...

I guess Martin's crack team of strategists couldn't decide which scare tactic would be most effective, so they decided to throw 'em all out there and let us take our pick.

Exactly the point, CA. When attempting to play upon the ignorance-fueled fears of Canadians, any message that has an air of plausibility will do.

My hope is that Harper will answer questions on these matters but, rather than obsessing about them, actually get back to driving the agenda. This past week we seen Martin step up the headlines and now Harper is the one being challenged by Martin's agenda setting instead of the other way around.

Fingers crossed.......

Tarkwell Robotico said...

Canadiana,

As you see, we blogged exactly the same line of thinking.

Sorry, Libs, lame, lame, lame. weak, weak, weak.

And please, don't let Don Drummond do your "independent analysis". He seems like a nice guy and we don't want to have to point out, well,....

Les Mackenzie said...

Let's not forget the radio commercials that blatantly lie about the Conservative childcare agenda.

Apparently Stephen Harper has no plan for childcare spaces... Apparently.