ridenrain ridenrain:
In the words of Paul Martin, when confronted with another bold faced lie:
$1:
"Screw the Red Book... Don't tell me what's in the Red Book. I wrote the goddamned thing. And I know that it's a lot of crap."
There's no point in trying to make a party organ like Derby admit the truth so I'm just happy to draw attention to his folly.
Don't worry about you guys looking the fools as you went from screaming about so called Liberal and NDP deficits to now saying they are a necessary component in Harpers plan for Canada.
Stephen Harper Oct 08 - "We're not running a deficit. We have planned a realistic scenario. We've got conservative budget estimates. We've got a modest platform that doesn't even fill the existing fiscal room that we have and we have plenty of flexibility in how we phase it. So that's our policy. We're not going into deficit."
And this: "This country will not go into recession next year and will lead the G-7 countries,"Harper declared just four days before the Oct. 14 vote. "We have every reason to believe
Canada will stay out of recession if Canada doesn't start raising taxes and spending itself into deficit."
It didn't last long until he flip-flopped on that.
Stephen Harper Nov 08 - "Canada is headed into a "technical" recession that justified the need for a domestic spending push because the country was facing "the classic circumstances under which budgetary deficits are essential."
or this one "With central banks no longer able to keep the economy limping along, he said the world – including Canada – now faces "the classic circumstances under which budgetary deficits are essential."
Once the votes were counted and his "every things fine no deficits here" BS was busted he had to justify his spending spree to the country" and this was before the coalition.
Of course aside from the deficit estimates that always and I mean
always got worse and worse we had him saying in a firm voice that he would return us to fiscal balance in just a few years......then 5 years and he always maintained it wasn't structural.
Stephen Harper Jan 15/09: "We do not have the intention of running a structural deficit or having a whole bunch of long-term spending initiatives. There will be a few but that will not be the bulk of our action. The bulk of our action will have the financial cost up front with the benefits hopefully down the road."
This one is a bit of Harper trivia and fun to read (feb 09):
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Stephen Harper, in response to a question about the long-term effects of inflation and deficits caused by his stimulus policies, just said something along the lines of the following:
"I was taught early in economics classes, the famous economist John Maynard Keynes said that, ‘At times like this, we remember that in the long run, we're all dead.'"
Yep. Stephen Harper. Said that.
He then went on to say that people need to stop worrying about the long term effects of these policies and work on getting the money flowing.
I could point out that Harper wrote his dissertation on disproving the theories of stated famous economist, or I could point out all the "sustainability" projects that we probably should stop paying for if "in the end, we're all dead" is the mentality we're going with. There are just so many things wrong with this picture
That came from the western standard btw on a piece originally in the Globe and Mail. That piece provided the full quote:
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"Of course there's all kinds of risks of inefficient, expanded government policies that will continue into the future,” Mr. Harper told a news conference in British Columbia. “I'm not suggesting there aren't long-term risks."
“But I was taught early in economics classes, the famous economist John Maynard Keynes said that, ‘At times like this, we remember that in the long run, we're all dead.' So right now, we worry about the short term. We are worried about the short term, and we've got to get things right now."
Of course there aren't long term risks to running a massive 5 year deficit Stevie.
Don't worry though because Harper isn't preparing us for bad news like he did back in Nov 09 by saying "yes there are long term risks but no the debt won't be structural"
For proof we can always talk to the indenpendent Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, the one he appointed so the voter would not have to rely on biased government projection.
Oops, I guess we might need to rethink this eh Stevie?"Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page says tax hikes or deep spending cuts are the only way the federal government's finances can return to a surplus position.
Page is the latest economic expert to suggest Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's plan to eliminate the deficit is unrealistic.
"Based on our analysis, even the analysis we did a few months ago, it will be very difficult to see a surplus within the next five years without significant discretionary actions," Page said in an interview with Canwest News Service and Global National"
Thats OK though because Harper respects the opinion of the budget expert he appointed right? Wrong.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Italy on Friday he won't follow the "dumb" advice from Parliament's budget officer by raising taxes to balance Canada's post-recession books.
Speaking about Canada's economy, the prime minister tersely dismissed Page's gloomy report this week, which said the government had underestimated the impact of the recession on government finances and the economy.
Sure he did Stevie and we should trust your word too because as we all know you have been predicting the economy so well up to this point.
Don't worry Kevin. Harper won't try anything petty like freezing your departments budget or something......
or will he? Well thats alright Kevin. Stevie has to save money somewhere right?
Interesting tidbit: "The first budget officer, Kevin Page, has published two major reports since starting his job in March,
including one in early November that suggested Canada's finances were about to go into deficit. At that time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was insisting such a conclusion was premature."
Hey Steve. Fire Flaherty and hire Kevin.
Now you folks who still love Stevie don't you worry. All this talk about structural deficits is just all partisan lies cooked up by the Liberals who have obviously gotten to Stevies own appointed PBO. He will not
repeat not run deficits for the foreseeable future.
Oops. Sorry riden, the truth kinda slipped out!$1:
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his government would keep budget deficits as long as needed to spur growth, and warned it's too early for world leaders to start unwinding stimulus packages.
Mr. Harper, speaking to reporters in L'Aquila, Italy after a meeting of leaders from the Group of Eight nations, said he won't adhere to a five-year timetable to balance the budget if that requires tax increases or reducing spending.
"We will allow the deficit to persist if necessary," Harper said today. "We will not, in order to meet some timetable, start raising taxes and cutting programs. That's a very dumb policy."
None of this has been flip-flop though, Harpers supporters say so. Its all gone according to Harpers plan.
CKA Uber 
