Stephen Harper: A recession in Canada

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=ea7da23c-d0fe-43d4-a6cd-088ed126e8c1

So, Harper isn't going to do anything for the Canadian economy. Oh, except sell off government property and he's based his "razor-thin surplus" on the price of these assets that are yet to be sold off. (?)


I thought you weren't supposed to count your chickens before they hatch! Haha, but Harper thinks it's good governance to do such.


And not to mention the slashing of Political Party subsidies.


In the past, if you voted for the Green Party, every vote cast garnished the Greens roughly $1.10 of subsidies that went towards their campaigns. A lot of parties, including the Bloc, NDP and Liberals received a large part of their funding from this subsidy.


The Conservatives get a lot of money from corporate shills and private exclusive party convention dinners.


So, it's no surprise that Harper is in denial and willing to pull the rug from under other parties. How long will his government last this time, I wonder.

 

reminds me of a certain "no new taxes" sort of president we had a decade or so back.

 

Well, looks like the Left is in the midst of forming a government. That's right, the NDP, Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois might be uniting to form a coalition government.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/11/28/fed-govt.html?ref=rss

We could have a coalition government by Monday!!!

Come'on people!! Fire up those letters in support of over-throwing the Conservatives!!

 

Hahaha, and so it looks like Harper is going to scrap the idea of cutting political subsidies now in an attempt to appease the unification of the Left.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/11/28/tories-fiscal.html?ref=rss

So long Mr. Harper. Don't forget your sweater.

 

Well Canada wont be spared in the pending depression, but i think we'll be better off then some. Our government shrinking in size, spending and selling land, thats good.

But overall politics here is a big joke.

 

I disagree that selling government property is a good idea. If you read the article, everyone who isn't a Conservative is saying that selling off government assets is a ploy to make it appear as though the projected budget won't be in a the red. Can't the Conservatives budget *any* Federal budget without selling off Crown Land or going into deficit again?

It's selling land off at basement prices in order to make the budget look like it will be in surplus.

And, they haven't even sold the assets yet, so they're basing their budget on prices of sale that haven't even happened yet. That's just bad economics.

 

Even though the government probably baught the land for a lot more then their selling it, its been proven that real estate costs have been hugely inflated in the last decade. So everything will be selling at basement prices. And besides, the government will always cook their books before releasing them to the public. Only pay attention to your own.

 

What do you mean bought it? 90% of the Boreal Forest is Crown Land. That means they're going to sell Crown Land. They didn't buy a lot of their land, they appropriated it. And they plan on selling it to developers to put up condos and Wal-Marts. Crown Land gets sold off to the highest bidder. But the cost of public land is sold off quickly so they can get the cash for it.

Thanks for the advice. But I'm going to pay attention and critiquing the government's books regardless.

 

You make it seem like the still desolate forests will become an urban utopia over night.

And maybe the autoworkers can go up there and build these wal-marts and condos you speak of. Or maybe i just fail to see the argument.

 

What the hell kind of frankenstein monster would the NDP and BQ make? Yikes.

 

uughh.

not good. not good.

 

Wow. Just wow.

Harper makes a move to delay the vote by a week. He's trying to buy himself more time and is waiting for people fight amongst themselves and to stall the dissolving of government.

Look at all the comments:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/11/28/fed-govt.html

 

And people say old white men politics are boring

 

Interesting times.

 

I actually can't believe how huge this entire issue became over the course of this week.

Anyone else been glued to the news and papers on this story???

Annoucement today was that Harper's getting his prorogation. No parliament 'til January.

 

I have.

Want to go to the rally?

 

I would, but I'm too busy Saturday. It would be pretty interesting to hear what people there have to say, since I've already been overwhelmed by the opposition to it.

Now I really want to see what's going to happen in January. The word is that the coalition is cracking and many of the Liberals aren't on as "on board" as previously thought.

I have a feeling nothing else will be attempted until after the Liberal leadership race is over, but with the introduction of the Budget, couldn't there be another election?

What do you think?

 

Like 4 months ago i was thinking about canada making a coalition government. Fuck stephen harper, he shouldnt be conserved.

 

You sure? I have room.

 

Does the Bloc really piss off other Canadians that much, I was watching parts of question time on youtube the other night and it seemed like it could be summed up in:

RABBLE RABBLE SEPARATISTS! RABBLE RABBLE
*Dion gets super pissed and yells something in that awesome French accent*
RABBLE RABBLE NO GOVERNMENT HAS EVER RELIED ON SEPARATISTS! RABBLE