PM Justin Trudeau's Canada

[Videodrome]

A few things:

1. No PM has won four elections in a row since Laurier over a century ago
2. Minority government Harper was a very different person than the majority government version

 

[kEiThZ]

I was told that the country is a disaster now.

Is there any point in our politics where the opposition isn't claiming the country is going to hell in a handbasket?

Liberals did the same to Harper long after the GFC had passed.

Harper saved the economy from ruin himself too,

More like saved the economy from himself. Remember when we had a constitutional crisis because he refused to pass a stimulus? His instincts were terrible. Arguably the only thing that saved him on the economy was Flaherty. You want to see a conservative PM that put Canada's long term economic interests first? I present to you Brian Mulroney who ran on and defended free trade despite its unpopularity in many quarters.

 

[kEiThZ]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/it...omy-so-why-is-it-raining-on-trudeau-1.5131876

It almost feels like Liberal strategists are amateurs. They should have seen this coming a mile away. Trudeau pitched himself as transformative (almost transcending politics). The party really hung its identity on him. Not much has been transformed. And the public is disappointed. So even the economy isn't delivering politically.

The thing is. If you want to be transformative, you have to make sacrifices. And you can tell how important an issue by how much a government is willing to sacrifice. What sacred cows are they willing to slaughter? Faced with a massive deficit, Chretien cut social/health spending. Previously unthinkable for a Liberal. Harper had to be cajoled and dragged kicking and screaming into it, but he did cave and passed a $50 billion deficit for stimulus. Would have been unthinkable for a conservative at that time. I struggle to think of one core value/policy that the Liberals compromised on, pissing off their base, to achieve a wider policy goal.

That's why Trudeau feel so "blah". If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. And increasingly it looks like every policy priority is simply an excuse to cut a cheque. Help families? Cut them a cheque. Tackle climate change? Cut more cheques. It's pretty classic tax and spend. It's basically the flip side of conservatives doling out a piddling tax cut for every minor issue. Remember Harper? Use public tax transit? You get a tax cut. Your kids play hockey? You get a tax cut. None of that was transformative or revolutionary. It's not really leadership. The public saw through it then and sees through it now.

 

[kEiThZ]

Canadian jobs report confirms over 1,000,000 new jobs added to economy in last four years...

How much have real wages changed?

 

[kEiThZ]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-norman-supply-ship-davie-harper-mackay-1.5134548

Wow. Literally prosecuted for doing his job and following orders from Cabinet. There needs to be an inquiry into how the RCMP and DPP handled this case. This story gets worse everyday.

 

[pman]

Is there any point in our politics where the opposition isn't claiming the country is going to hell in a handbasket?

Liberals did the same to Harper long after the GFC had passed.



More like saved the economy from himself. Remember when we had a constitutional crisis because he refused to pass a stimulus? His instincts were terrible. Arguably the only thing that saved him on the economy was Flaherty. You want to see a conservative PM that put Canada's long term economic interests first? I present to you Brian Mulroney who ran on and defended free trade despite its unpopularity in many quarters.

Mulroney doubled the federal debt in just under nine years, while claiming to be a fiscal conservative. That wasn’t exactly putting Canada’s long term economic interests first.

 

[narduch]

Mulroney doubled the federal debt in just under nine years, while claiming to be a fiscal conservative. That wasn’t exactly putting Canada’s long term economic interests first.

Conservatives always raise the dept because they are full of shit and their supporters are gullible

 

[Hopkins123]

Conservatives always raise the dept because they are full of shit and their supporters are gullible

Politics is a delicate high wire of give and take. Cuts ought to be done every now and then; it's cyclical and how the system course corrects itself. That doesn't mean we have to be in a state of austerity all the time though.

Arguably, having to clean up the "messes" of an outgoing left-leaning government's spending agenda is what constantly puts the Conservatives' ideological positions at odds with how they inevitably govern.

 

[narduch]

Politics is a delicate high wire of give and take. Cuts ought to be done every now and then; it's cyclical and how the system course corrects itself. That doesn't mean we have to be in a state of austerity all the time though.

Arguably, having to clean up the "messes" of an outgoing left-leaning government's spending agenda is what constantly puts the Conservatives' ideological positions at odds with how they inevitably govern.

Conservatives tend to be really bad money managers. Ford is a perfect example. Slashing and burning useful programs and still over spending.

 

[PinkLucy]

It's because they continue to believe in trickle-down economics. We won't need all of those programs they are cutting once the trickle down starts happening.

 

[kEiThZ]

Mulroney doubled the federal debt in just under nine years, while claiming to be a fiscal conservative. That wasn’t exactly putting Canada’s long term economic interests first.

Was there a party and country in the developed world that didn't run large deficits in the 80s? Mulroney also brought in the GST to help tackle that deficit. Who know what would have happened if he was still in power in the 90s. But I doubt the path would have been all that different from what the Liberals did.

In any event, it's a red herring to what I was referring to: free trade. It wasn't an easy issue to fight an election on. And Mulroney did it. They were the sole party supporting free trade at the time. Kudos to them for that. And I say all this as someone who isn't a fan.

This is the problem with partisan ideologues. They can see no good in any policy that comes from the other side. And resort to red herrings to deflect. This is not how the average voter thinks.

 

[kEiThZ]

Conservatives tend to be really bad money managers.

As someone who is a huge fan of Chretien and Martin, I would have agreed with you until I saw the inability of McGuinty/Wynne to cut anything at the provincial level and Trudeau taking the license of "small deficits" to mean $30B annually. This seems to be the flip side of Ford giving out deficit financed tax cuts. Nothing annoys me more than governments that don't want to raise revenue for their spending, or cut spending to match their revenue cuts. Especially when the economy is good and returns are up.

 

[Videodrome]

Scheer is once again on the defensive, claiming he won't reopen a certain debate. I wouldn't put it past him though.

 

[tiffer24]

The U.S. has reportedly reached a deal to lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico, removing a significant roadblock of congressional approval of the revised North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Washington Post reported the U.S. will lift tariffs within 48 hours in exchange for new measures that would block Chinese steel from entering the U.S. from Mexico and Canada, a practice known as trans-shipment.

 

[TStephens]

Liberals are hurting now but it all moves in cycles -- one party is terrible until the other wins, and then they're the bad guys. Have to say though, Liberal strategy has been disappointing, especially as someone who's close to buying their first house and is getting stress tested at much higher mortgage rates; I don't doubt that it's necessary, just unfortunate timing for myself.