Greatest PM ever?? Worst Ever??? Most influential /well known??

[kEiThZ]

^ In a similar vein, I feel that history will be kinder to Mulroney than we are to him today. Without his efforts, could the Liberals really have done that well during their time in office? Mulroney laid so much of the ground work for Chretien's success, particularly on the economic front. Unfortunately, the recession at the end of his term wiped out any chance of credit for his economic reforms.

Also, that large Conservative majority was certainly nothing to scoff at. It was the first such feat in decades and is unlikely to be repeated for decades again.

 

[lordmandeep]

Imo that victory was pointless if you end up with two seats 9 years latter.


I think that feat will not be repeated ever again!!!

About Mulroney and Chretien..

Mulroney brought new radical economic ideas but took the fall and Chretien made his ideas work.


Imo Mulroney idea's would have been useless if we just continued with our big spending, big govt ways that Canada was on for decades. Chretien took that turn and there were consequences, but imagine if Canada had stayed in deficit all this time.

Canada even with all these debts recently, is perhaps the only western Country that has any chance at a sustainable federal fiscal situation for the future.

 

[doady]

I would have said Jean Cretin is the worst, simply because of the downloading onto the provinces, but the Automaton turning out to be even worse, for a variety of reasons.

 

[afransen]

Mulroney's biggest mistake was not integrating the GST into the price of goods and services, as is commonplace in many jurisdictions with VATs.

 

[lordmandeep]

I think if those drastic fiscal measures were not taken in the mid 90's in Canada.


Canada's fiscal situation would easily be in the same position as the United States.


Really we suffered for a bit but I think in the long run it will really benefit us.

 

[TrickyRicky]

My question is looking forward can you really envision a leader of Canada being bold or tackling big idea issues? I cannot. Infact, looking back former leaders of this nation look like giants by comparison. Perhaps this is just a function of our national psyche. The second question is, if we have become a nation of stewarts and incrementalists are we incrementally improving our society or managing it's decline? Sometime it is not easy to tell the difference.

 

[doady]

I think if those drastic fiscal measures were not taken in the mid 90's in Canada.


Canada's fiscal situation would easily be in the same position as the United States.


Really we suffered for a bit but I think in the long run it will really benefit us.

All they did was shove their fiscal problems onto the provinces, who in turn shoved them onto the municipalities. The fiscal problems never went away, they are still there. Instead of a cash-strapped federal government, we have cash-strapped provinces and municipalities, thanks to Jean Cretin. And thanks to the incompetence of the Harper government we now have a cash-strapped federal government again anyways. So I don't see any benefit.

 

[Whoaccio]

^
We don't have cash strapped provincial governments. Most of them have been running minor surpluses over the past decade (not now, obviously) or very modest deficits. We don't even really have cash strapped municipalities, that's really more of a Toronto thing.

Not to say spending should be higher or lower, just that there isn't much proof of systemic budget woes in Canada given recent (i.e. post Chretien) levels of spending/taxation.

 

[lordmandeep]

Yes and really if you have cash strapped Federal Govt you still would have ended up with cash strapped provinces anyways.


There was no other sane option during the mid 1990's...

The GST helped revenues but really it would have never would have made the increasing expenses.

You will see now that some govts after this recession will cut back on certain things because they will see that increasing taxes will not be able to cover the shortfall.

Further these two things make him way better then Harper and Martin...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX6XMIldkRU&feature=related
"No, a proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof, and when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven."

Lol, that was epic!!!

 

[shumoon]

Lester B. Pearson is the best because his government instituted universal health care for Canadians in 1966. And he did it without the governement going into deficit.

Pearson also implemented a race-neutral immigration system at the same time the U.S. was getting rid of its infamous quota-based system as well (circa 1965).

He died before I was born, but I always had the impression that this Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister embodied the best of what Canada was all about.

 

[doady]

^
We don't have cash strapped provincial governments. Most of them have been running minor surpluses over the past decade (not now, obviously) or very modest deficits.

Obviously the provinces are not cash strapped since they downloaded onto the municipalities.

We don't even really have cash strapped municipalities, that's really more of a Toronto thing.

That's only because the other municipalities raise taxes and transit fares like crazy. Like the 15% property tax increase in Oshawa a few years ago. Many times the rate of inflation, you might agree, and it is the same situation across Canada.

Yes and really if you have cash strapped Federal Govt you still would have ended up with cash strapped provinces anyways.

A government should deal with its own problems instead of forcing it upon someone else and ignoring the problem. Again, exactly what net benefit did downloading have? None at all. It was just a lazy and irresponsible solution.

Can you imagine if the Conservatives today simply downloaded further costs to deal with the current deficit? Can you imagine if every government did that? There would be no accountability. The feds would look like winners for balancing the budget, and the rest look like losers.

 

[lordmandeep]

However Keith, you forget the deficit today is manageable compared to the past and is nowhere near critical or record highs as it was in the early 90's.


I could not imagine the situation the Federal Govt would be in if it was in a perceptual deficit situation...

 

[kEiThZ]

I have to say...the title of this thread sounds like a Stephen Colbert question.

 

[Cast_Member]

I think Joe Clark is somewhat a clumsy and an awkward person.

 

[GenerationW]

^Never heard that one before.