[Newsbot]

Title: Chretien warns Tories will attack gay marriage, abortion
Category: Political
Posted By: Strutz
Date: 2011-12-13 20:00:01
Canadian

[Benn]

$1:

Former prime minister Jean Chretien is warning Liberals that the Conservatives and Prime Minister Stephen Harper have a hidden agenda to

Wow, so hes spouting the same crap he was 10 years ago. Get some new material dude!

[ShepherdsDog]

[weaselways]

See what happens next session. If Roxanne's law is reintroduced, that is the thin edge of the wedge for a more socially conservative agenda.

[EyeBrock]

Silly.

The Tories will be looking at solidifying their mass appeal, not shooting themselves in the foot. I'm sure the die hard Libs will swallow this shit but they will never vote Tory anyway.

Harper kicks kittens, hates fags and loose women. Yea, that's gonna be their strategy for another election.

Really people.

[uwish]

The Conservatives are just now starting to undue much of the damage this clowns government did to this nation. As usual, he only speaks out of half his mouth.

[OnTheIce]

Just a way to rally the troops and dig them out of the hole.

They're not raising money very well so they bring in Jean to write a letter.

I smell desperation.

[saturn_656]

I guess Chretien missed the memo on how all that "hidden agenda" nonsense worked out the last few times the Liberals tried to sell it.

[bootlegga]

I doubt it - if there is one thing Harper craves more than anything else, it's staying in the PMO - and if he were to target SSM or abortion, he and his party would be out on their asses in 2015 in another Liberal (or God forbid NDP) landslide.

Harper may not like them - but I doubt he has any real agenda to target them. Eliminating the Wheat Board, gun registry and his crime agenda is likely going to be enough for this term. But if he gets another majority in 2015, I suppose anything is possible. Harper's biggest worry is falling into the same mindset of the Liberals in the past decade - that of thinking that he can do whatever he wants and there will be no consequences.

[bootlegga]

uwish uwish:

The Conservatives are just now starting to undue much of the damage this clowns government did to this nation. As usual, he only speaks out of half his mouth.

Yeah, that budget surplus sure did a lot of damage to our financial picture - good thing Harper and Deficit Jim have put us back in the minus column where we rightfully belong!

Chretien did a lot that was wrong (like the sponsorship scandal), but a lot that was right too...of course partisans like yourself only see the half of the picture you don't like.

[OnTheIce]

bootlegga bootlegga:

partisans like yourself only see the half of the picture you don't like.

Speaking of that....

Regardless of who was in power these past few years, we'd be running deficits due to to stimulus spending that all parties supported.

Let's not ignore the obvious just to make a point.

[bootlegga]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

bootlegga bootlegga:

partisans like yourself only see the half of the picture you don't like.

Speaking of that....

Regardless of who was in power these past few years, we'd be running deficits due to to stimulus spending that all parties supported.

Let's not ignore the obvious just to make a point.

I fully agree we'd be in a deficit - the difference is how much of a deficit we'd be in. Sure spending MIGHT be higher, and I emphasize might, because spending has increased 22% under Harper since 2006 and that the number of civil servants earning more than 100k has doubled. So despite the claim of being a fiscal conservative, he's shown he's anything but one.

The only thing Harper has proven so far is that he can cut taxes, which in doing so, made the deficits in the past few years much worse then they would have been had he not cut the GST. I don't know about you, but that $10+ billion or so from the GST cut sure would have softened those $50+ billion deficits in 2008, 2009.

The real trick will be to see if he can cut spending - and so far, he hasn't shown an ability to make really deep cuts like he's going to have to do to get rid of the current $30+ billion deficit. Sure he has cut spending here and there, but saving a $100 million on the LGR and $40 million on political party subsidies isn't going to slay the deficit he's running, especially not when his crime bill looks to cost as much as $19 billion and his corporate tax cuts will cost $60 billion over 10 years. Even if he cut every cent the CBC gets (about $1 billion), he'd still be in a deficit situation.

Harper needs to cut hard and cut fast, but he's shown no inclination to do so, instead he appears to be relying on the economy turning around and killing his deficit, but I have serious doubts about that.

[OnTheIce]

bootlegga bootlegga:

I fully agree we'd be in a deficit - the difference is how much of a deficit we'd be in. Sure spending MIGHT be higher, and I emphasize might, because spending has increased 22% under Harper since 2006 and that the number of civil servants earning more than 100k has doubled. So despite the claim of being a fiscal conservative, he's shown he's anything but one.

Spending went up under Chretien by 10% and another 10.4% under Martin in 2004 alone and they all had their unique challenges. Chretien and the Liberals inherited a mess from Mulroney and Harper got stuck with the World-wide recession.

bootlegga bootlegga:

Harper needs to cut hard and cut fast, but he's shown no inclination to do so, instead he appears to be relying on the economy turning around and killing his deficit, but I have serious doubts about that.

He won't and he can't.

If he does the right thing, which is slash and burn...which most governments in Canada should be doing, he'll ruin the CPC party.

Most of us who "get" politics and government know what has to be done, but we as a society don't have the "balls" to suck it up and let the cuts happen to get our Provinces and Country in financial order.

We have a huge NIMBY problem....we know we have to cut, but we don't want it to affect us....it should affect someone else.

[bootlegga]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

bootlegga bootlegga:

I fully agree we'd be in a deficit - the difference is how much of a deficit we'd be in. Sure spending MIGHT be higher, and I emphasize might, because spending has increased 22% under Harper since 2006 and that the number of civil servants earning more than 100k has doubled. So despite the claim of being a fiscal conservative, he's shown he's anything but one.

Spending went up under Chretien by 10% and another 10.4% under Martin in 2004 alone and they all had their unique challenges. Chretien and the Liberals inherited a mess from Mulroney and Harper got stuck with the World-wide recession.

And yet Chretien and Martin had surpluses...hmmm.

The GST tax cut, while nice, shouldn't have happened. Harper made the mistake of cutting close to $15 Billion in tax revenues right before a major recession hit. That would have made a big difference in the bottom line these last few years.

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

bootlegga bootlegga:

Harper needs to cut hard and cut fast, but he's shown no inclination to do so, instead he appears to be relying on the economy turning around and killing his deficit, but I have serious doubts about that.

He won't and he can't.

If he does the right thing, which is slash and burn...which most governments in Canada should be doing, he'll ruin the CPC party.

Most of us who "get" politics and government know what has to be done, but we as a society don't have the "balls" to suck it up and let the cuts happen to get our Provinces and Country in financial order.

We have a huge NIMBY problem....we know we have to cut, but we don't want it to affect us....it should affect someone else.

It's not that he can't, it's that he won't.

Cutting spending in the 90s was both necessary and hard, but Chretien did it regardless and while many departments suffered, in the end, it was what the country needed.

Can you imagine if the Chretien Liberals had continued to tax and spend they way they did under Trudeau? Canada would be in a far worse position than Greece right now, but because Chretien and Martin took a hard stand on finance, Canada got its credit rating restored to AAA.

Sorry, but if Harper really did what was necessary for Canada (and not his party and their supporters), he might be surprised to find that Canadians would support him. Instead, the cuts he has made so far are nothing more than partisan politics and playing to his base.

Harper needs to grow a pair and just do his job.

[DanSC]

Wouldn't Cretian want this to happen? It would guarantee a new government in the next election.