Annoyed1

Son, after 50+ years on this mudball, seeing both the best and worst we hairless apes have to offer, I can attest that the only place you will find normal is on the fat end of a bell curve.

I would argue that it is one thing to note the passing of the man, and offer condolences to his family, it is quite another thing to lionize the person in death to the point where sainthood is all but bestowed. And this is what we are witnessing with Flaherty, you visit the CBC website and see the posting there. You would swear he not only walked on water, but produced fishes and loafs to feed the multitudes and slated their thirst with barrels of wine pulled out of thin air. Try to interject a measure of reality and the 3rd party mods (CBC forums are now managed and modulated by an outside source) are quick to disable it.

In our current first past the post set up, one cannot gain a majority position in Parliament without winning either Quebec or Ontario. Given that Quebec basically reject the Harper neo-Cons in the last Federal election, he needs to win Ontario if he hopes to win a second majority or even another minority. However, Ontario looks to be turning away from the Harper Governement, which means he really does need to make a breakthrough in Quebec. With the recent landslide election of the Liberal Party of Quebec and JT's rising popularity there, such a breakthrough seems highly unlikely. JT and the Liberals are making headway in Ontario at the expense of the Conservatives. At the same time, BC is not very happy with the Harper Cons either for a number of reason, so much so they stand to lose the few seats they have here, which is something they can ill afford. Unless JT and the Liberal implode, which is possible or the NDP becomes seen as a viable middle of the road option compared to the two other main parties, the 2015 election looks bleak for Harper.

Wait till you read my first (and possibly last depending on the mods here) post....

Shakespeare wrote the most fitting epitaph for Flaherty Julius Caesar, Scene III, Act II Marc Anthony speaks: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not praise him. The evil that men do lives after them Thus it will be with the late Jim Flaherty. However it would seem that a collective amnesia has gripped the body politic and public. In death, great honours are being visited upon him, terms like visionary, a great Canadian, etc, etc. are being used to describe this man. Visit any Canadian new outlet web site including the CBC and you would swear that a combination of The Queen, JFK, MLK, the Pope and Christ himself had just died instead a recently retired MP and ex-Finance Minister. Like Marc Anthony, I come not to praise Flahtery, but bury him. He was not a great Canadian, nor a good Finance Minister, at best he was a mediocre Finance Minister, at worse he was a hopeless disaster who have left us all poorer for his efforts. As Mike Harris Finance Minister in Ontario, he generated a massive debt before bolting to join Stephen Harper’s (neo-) Conservative Party of Canada. When he left, he claimed he had balanced Ontario's budget, later after going through the books, Ontario found he had left them in a sea of red ink that the Ontario taxpayers will be dealing with for decades. He then inherited a tidy surplus and stable budget from Paul Martin which he quickly blew through like a drunken sailor let loose in a cat house with a stolen credit card. Not only did he blow through that surplus, he created the largest debt load we Canadians have ever seen, a debt which not only will we be paying off for decades to come, but one our kid and most likely their kids will have to service. And while creating this massive debt, he and Harper were busy cutting the services Canadian have come to expect. So in short, more debt, less services. And lets not forget the 2008 melt down. We had both Harper and Flaherty telling us firs that there was no recession and later that it would not affect us or our economy. Nice fairy tale that one. So while condolences are due to his family for his loss, I refuse to lionize the man in death. So let bury him, not praise him.

As a Finance Minister, the man was an utter disaster. He had a heart?