"Layton Is The Camel"

Sorry, a little levity is needed here. I was reading the background information of whether the coalition coup d’état is constitutional or not, which led me to this gem from constitutional law expert Stephen Scott, a professor emeritus at McGill University:

Surprisingly, it may be the Liberals who have the most to lose in the long-run. The party has always presented itself as the one true alternative to the Tories, and a party that occupies a wide swath of the political spectrum to represent the majority of Canadians.

But now, the Liberals are relying on two other parties to form a government, and the stature of those parties could grow on the political landscape.

“Once you let the nose of the camel into the tent, you might get the whole camel in the tent,” said Scott. “In this context, Layton is the camel.”

Echoing these sentiments is Graeme of Nunc Scio, who suggests the Liberals are squandering an important time which should be spent in the rebuilding and reorganizing of the structure and foundation of the party to retrofit and return with a stronger challenge:

I woke up with a start last night, vaguely disoriented and slightly upset. I’m pretty sure I was dreaming about the prospect of a Liberal/NDP/BQ coalition. And possibly a dancing wildebeast.

[...]

As Adam Daifallah, one of Canada’s more thoughtful conservative commentators, points out, a coalition government would short-circuit the Liberal Party’s “wilderness years”, a time of rebuilding and reflection it sorely needs in the wake of scandal and defeat. The Progressive Conservatives went through a similar process post-1993, and it worked wonders for their electability. Wilderness years are important to the Liberals, because Canada needs a solid Liberal Party. It’s political mutability makes it a party of the center, which is the only logical position from which to govern a modern, cosmopolitan state. If the Libs take the reigns now, they do themselves- and the country- no favours.

But the Liberals are unwilling, somehow, to let go of their bitter desire for power at any cost. So unwilling in fact, that they are quite happy to join in with the NDP and the Bloc for that chance again.

But look. We all marveled at the way the “coalition” stood up to the Conservative Party and threatened to take the government down in a way never before seen. That was quite an eye-opener for all involved. But let’s back away from the precipice, take a deep breath, and make sure we really want Jack and Gilles going up on the Hill to fetch a bailout of money for Canada.

Let’s help Graeme get a good night’s sleep here, and quit this coalition government talk until the government offers their budget on January 27, and Canadians get to see for themselves what they’re really being offered.

Good night [early for once].

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Fisking The Fiscally "Responsible" Coalition Part II

Part II in my assessment of the “Accord on a cooperative government“:

Rapid Support for those affected by the Economic Crisis

The new Government is committed to ensuring that the federal government has the appropriate programs in place to assist those most affected by the economic crisis so that all citizens will be in a position to fully participate in the economic recovery to follow, including the following measures:

[A mishmash of social programs]

What is unsurprising about all of this is the idea that social spending is going to solve the economic crisis. Nothing we’ve seen so far in this so-called fiscally responsible coalition has any markings of fiscal conservancy. Look at their list of entitlements. Worker training for a “rapidly changing economy”. That sounds a lot like a new kiosk at HRDC. “Amend the current law establishing a new crown corporation for employment insurance in order to guarantee that all revenue from EI premiums provides benefits and training for workers.” A new crown corporation! And nobody bats an eye in the progressive blogosphere. An entirely new program of government workers hired to ensure we are dispensing our social security net efficiently, and the highly paid bureaucrats who will oversee this program.

This isn’t an economic stimulus package. This is a mishmash of socialist-utopian schisms from long-planned NDP and Liberal ideas.

Other Priorities to Stimulate the Economy

- Support for culture, including the cancellation of budget cuts announced by the Conservative government.

- Support for Canadian Wheat Board and Supply Management

- Immigration Reform
- Reinstate regional development agency funding to non-profit economic development organizations.

What does “support for culture” even mean? And how does it provide immediate and effective economic stimulus? Is it not more likely that this is nothing more than the long-planned spending programs of the Liberals that would have been implemented regardless of an economic crisis? And what does “immigration reform” mean? More immigrants? I would say less, but that would go against the fundamental philosophical position of the progressive that more immigrants will always stimulate the economy. Even during a time of job shortage.

And of course what would a “stimulus package” be without heavy investment in public sector spending programs?

Families

As finances permit, we are committed to moving forward with improved child benefits and an early learning and childcare program in partnership with each province, and respectful of their role and jurisdiction, including the possibility to opt out with full compensation.

How does giving parents more money for their children stimulate the economy during this economic crisis? I fail to see how that works. But I do note the suggestion, however vaguely, of a universal child care program. I suppose that money will be raised when the economy is “stimulated” to climax.

Working with our North American Partners

We will work with our North American Partners to pursue a North American cap-and-trade market with absolute emission targets, using 1990 as the base year.

Kill me. Now.

Working with our International Partners

The new Government is committed to working with the international community, particularly with G-20 partners, in pursuit of an effective new global financial architecture.

An empty passage, and one that is interchangeable with the Conservative party press release from 2 weeks ago.

In other words, an empty stimulus package as well. Heavy on social spending programs, heavy on investment in the public sector, and heavy on those affiliated in the public sector. As Coyne writes: “Loosening monetary policy doesn’t count. Tax cuts don’t count. It only counts as stimulus if the government spends it.”

There is nothing remotely fiscally responsible about the declaration of intent from this “new” government, and indeed we see the spectres being raised of:

Universal programs
Increased spending in programs
Interference in the free market
Protectionism
Handouts and bailouts
Environmental Global Warming Cap and Trade programs

In other words, my friends, nothing that anybody in the previous election, won by the Conservative Party of Canada, voted for.

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Fisking The Fiscally "Responsible" Coalition Part I

Via CanWire I’ve come across a National Post article from yesterday that states the “coalition’s” approach to the economic crisis. In it are some bold statements, fantastic presumptions, and utterly fallacious reasoning.

[Welcome Daimnation! readers]

Preamble

The new Government is supported by parties that share a commitment to fiscal responsibility, a progressive agenda and a belief in the role of Government to act as a partner with Canadians and Quebecers. Where appropriate, these goals should be pursued in full partnership and consultation with the provincial and territorial governments.

Amazing what a coalition government of Canada must state in it’s declaration of a policy accord. A commitment, it says, to fiscal responsibility in the role of government that will act as a partner with Canadians. And Quebecers. Not Canadians and Manitobans. Or Canadians and British Columbians. Because as we very well know, this is a coalition that has chosen to align with a “nation” within a nation. This new Canadian government will choose to implement a “progressive agenda” [sinister words] that will benefit Canada and Quebec. Would that not be redundant, unless the plan also benefited Quebec in some way that was above and beyond the way in which it benefited Canada? The rhetorical answer is yes.

Fiscal Principles

This policy accord is built on a foundation of fiscal responsibility. All three parties agree that the Canadian economy and the fiscal framework of the federal government have severely weakened since the last federal budget.

As the Parliamentary Budget Officer concluded, due to the policy choices of the Conservative government, the starting point of the federal government is deficit. This new reality does not reduce the necessity to stimulate the economy consistent with the understandings arrived at by all nations in the G20.

I find it fascinating that one can both criticize the Conservatives for fiscal “weakness” and deficit, and insist they have the necessary mandate to stimulate the economy by embracing deficit. I mean, $30 billion hardly “balances” the books in the short term does it? I also find it quite interesting that both the Prime Minister and the new “coalition” government have cited the G20 as their impetus to act.

Economic Stimulus Package

- Accelerating existing infrastructure funding and substantial new investments, including municipal and inter-provincial projects (such as
- transit, clean energy, water, corridors and gateways). This would certainly include addressing the urgent infrastructure needs of First Nations, Métis and Inuit;

- Housing construction and retrofitting; and

- Investing in key sector strategies (like manufacturing, forestry and automotive) designed to create and save jobs, with any aid contingent on a plan to transform these industries and return them to profitability and sustainability.

“Substantial” new investments and fiscal responsibility don’t usually make good bedfellows. The plan is particularly vague [not an oxymoron], since it throws out all the usual suspects of infrastructure plans. I will be paying very close attention to what happens in the Indian reservations, since we’ve heard for almost three years now how simple it would be to fix. I find it a curious thing that the coalition would announce as a bullet point worthy of it’s own little paragraph, that it will build and retrofit houses as an economic stimulus. I daresay that I wonder if these people know how long construction projects take. Even if the spades were already digging in the ground, as it were, it would take years and years to provide the kind of housing that is necessary to fill the need. So while it’s an important part of governance, it hardly passes as a “stimulus”.

The last part should read “bailout” for the manufacturing sectors of Ontario, in particular the auto industry. The most sinister of which is the idea of a government plan to transform private business into an industry that is profitable and “sustainable”. Since when has it been the job of government to ensure that private businesses are beholden to the profitability of anyone but shareholders? Well, that was a rhetorical question, because it is since the NDP entered the coalition four days ago.

Go on to Part II…

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"Coup Countdown": 6 Days Left

The “Bush smirk” has nothing on this man these days.

There hasn’t been much change from yesterday I note, although I admit I only skimmed about 20 articles of import. The coalition still seems a “go”, although not all the players have signed their contracts with Team Desperate yet [John Manley, Michael Ignatieff]. John Ivison in the National Post has even indicated that Stephen Harper sees the writing on the wall, as this party, this government, and this leadership might actually fall in six days. Little aside from the proroguing of Parliament, appealing to a sense of “fair play” for another election [fat chance], or just plain good old begging, seems to be available as options.

While there is a strong sentiment that Stephen Harper should fall on his sword for the good of Canada, I don’t think we can place the blame for this predicament solely on the Right Honourable Prime Minister. There is, actually, every indication that the members of the “coalition” knew perfectly well that the Conservatives would try to pass motions that would be unacceptable to their party, and so instead of trying to vote them down each time, they hatched a scheme. Now, I have no idea what actually transpired in order to conceive this coalition, but I suspect it went something like this:

The Liberals were asked by the NDP just prior to the last election whether they would be interested in a contingency plan in the event the Conservatives brought in a renewed mandate that preserved the status quo [that is: back to square one]. The Liberals likely balked at such a coalition, citing the unlikelihood that the Bloc could be convinced to come on board, and also in their infinite arrogance, they no doubt felt they could convince Canadians to “go Green Shift”. That’s when Papa Jack went into his negotiations with the separatists, while trying to bring the Liberals reluctantly on board. I doubt any of it was very firm at the time. And then the hammer came down. The people of Canada spoke, and the Liberals were felled like a rotten tree in a wind storm. Stephane Dion looked one last time at his legacy and his chances for greatness slipping away, and he did what anybody with a total lack of moral fibre and a willingness to win at “any cost” would do. He caved, and joined the separatists and the NDP, knowing the cost to Canada would be great. But like many Liberals of “greatness”, he knew that Canada would be better off with a Liberal Prime Minister in a majority mandate.

Never mind the fact we didn’t elect a majority Liberal government. We will get one, because in the end Stephane Dion could not convince us of the dire need of his failed economic-environmentalism, so he chose to force us to accept it by amalgamating the most unlikely team in political history. I have no doubt that the singular fact that Stephane Dion believes his Green Shift is still “the way, the truth and the light”, is the main reason he is doing this to Canada. It’s the only way to make us truly “see”. Even after the last election, he could not humble his protuberant ego that he knows what’s best for us, the public, who voted him down.

You can see it. You can see it in the way he carries himself now. Not as someone who gave the Liberals their worst showing in a century, nor as someone who lost the Liberal party 26 seats, but in his triumphal and smug expression. Behind the veneer of pleasantry, you can clearly see the oddly upturned smirk, as he finds himself in a position of winning the game by changing the rules. And while Stephane Dion has modestly accepted to step down in May when a new Liberal leader is chosen, you can tell that the six months in the Prime Minister’s Office is already a gleam that dances in his eyes. It is that gleam that tells me that Stephen Harper’s resignation will do nothing to curb the ambition of this would-be revolutionary of the Northern Banana Republic of Canada.

RELATED

Joanne: Liberals do not like the idea of Dion selling them out to the sovereigntists for a chance at the PMO.

Secrets of Vancouver: The Truth Starts To Leak Out

National Newswatch: The coalition releases a website claiming it has 62% of the support of Canadians.

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