blackbird

If you look at the past record of the Liberals and the Conservatives under Harper, several things stand out: 1. The Conservatives did a fairly good job handling the government budget during the recession of 2008-2010. They ran up a deficit over a number of years but the deficit was nowhere near the size of the deficits the Liberal ran up under Trudeau. Also, the Conservatives were able to get the deficits under control and by the time of the 2015 change of government, the deficit was very small or non-existent when Trudeau took over. 2. The Liberals did two things that cause concern. They increased the size of the federal civil service by a large percentage after they took power in 2015. While it is understandable that there would be a deficit in the Covid years, the deficit continued to grow quite large since Covid ended. Today the deficit is 62 billion dollars. That means a large amount of the annual budget must go to pay the interest on the national debt. This interest is about as much as the federal government spends on health care. This article describes some things about the Harper governing years with respect to government economics. " Then came the financial crisis and recession. In fiscal years 2008/09 and 2009/10, the Conservatives budgeted lower revenue and higher spending, and as the economic decline turned out worse than expected, the actual declines in revenues and increases in spending were larger than budgeted, yielding a deficit of almost $56 billion in 2009/10. The reverse was true in the recovery year of 2010/11: revenues came in ahead of, and spending below, budget. In three of the following four years as the bottom line returned to balance, this same pattern of in-year surprises in opposite directions prevailed. This pattern stands out in a good way for two reasons. Letting booms push revenue up and spending down, producing positive bottom-line results, and letting busts push revenue down and spending up, producing negative bottom-line results, is the public economics prescription for macroeconomic stabilization. The Harper Conservatives largely did that. The other reason this pattern stands out in a good way is that, while common in textbooks, it is rare in real life. Canada’s federal and provincial governments over the past 20 years have typically overshot their revenue targets, and spent most of that extra revenue as it came in (Robson and Omran 2019). The Trudeau Liberals reverted to that more common pattern. They recorded better-than-forecast revenues in each of the four fiscal years from 2015 to 2019, and overshot their projected increases in spending in three of them. One result of that overspending is that the Liberals ratcheted the size of the federal government up year by year. The superior fiscal management of the Harper Conservatives avoided that. Over the full 2006 to 2015 period, notwithstanding the spending pressures of 2008 and 2009, federal revenue and spending declined somewhat as a share of GDP. The Liberals are consistently adding to Ottawa’s accumulated deficit, despite a growing economy. If their approach had been more like that of the Harper Conservatives, Canada would have been better prepared for the fiscal impact of covid-19. " How Good Was Harper? (for Canada's Economy) – The Dorchester Review

We see Liberals promise they have the best plan to deal with the housing crisis, the Trump tariffs, and everything else. The Conservatives also promise they have the best plan to deal with each of these things. So how is the average voter supposed to know who has the best plan and who can be trusted? The answer has to be the past record of the Liberal government. They were given the mandate and privilege to govern Canada the past ten years. So it boils down to the history of what they did with the mandate they were given. They were the ones that allowed the housing crisis to happen. They created mass immigration which added to the housing crisis and health care crisis because they did not properly consider how immigration would affect the housing situation or how it would affect the other services such as health care. They also did not consider how their government regulations at all levels would be an obstacle to home building and how the costs of obtaining permits would add to the cost of home building. There are also 149,000 regulations on businesses in Canada. This creates an extreme burden and costs to investment and business. They did nothing about that either. I think they had their chance and if examined closely must be given a fail. Since politicians always promise everything under the sun, it is impossible to decide who to vote for strictly on the basis of political promises. Promises simply can't be the deciding factor. It must be based on what records of the past are available. That means there is only one party, that is, the one which has not had the chance to prove what they could do, but has a vision for the future to build a strong Canada.

After ten years of the soft-on-crime government, it appears many voters are still supporting Liberals. Obviously these people have not been personally affected and they don't have businesses that have been affected. Just on the news that six men, most or all with rifles, were recorded on a security camera arriving on a farm in Manitoba in the middle of the night. The farmer turned on his outside light and they all jumped back into their truck and took off. This could have been very serious. But there will be no consequences for this with our criminal justice system. Winnipeg apparently has the highest murder rate as well. Another young man in Kamloops was badly beaten by a guy with a baseball bat for walking on his property at the time of his graduation night. He was beaten to a vegetable state and now lives in bed requiring continuous care which his mother provides. He has suffered through many operations. Yet the offender got off with 33 months in prison and was released. A judge ordered him to sell his home and give the money to the victim and/or mother for lifetime care. So he apparently sold the house to his parents for one dollar. The victim and his mother have seen very little of the money. This kind of thing should never have happened like this. This is a failure of our justice system under the Liberals. There will be no change if Liberals continue to rule. Same old people; same old soft-on-crime attitude. Please help change this by voting for a Conservative government who will change the justice system to protect Canadians.

Are you saying there is no such thing as provincial sovereignty? You need to go back to school. Or maybe they didn't teach you much. The basic provincial jurisdiction: quote Exclusive Powers of Provincial Legislatures The exclusive powers of Provincial legislatures, enumerated in ss. 92, 92(A) and 93 of the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982, concern matters of a local nature (also see notes). They include the following: Direct Taxation within Province Management/Sale of Public Lands belonging to Province Prisons Hospitals Municipalities Formalization of Marriage Property and Civil Rights Administration of Civil/Criminal Justice Education Incorporation of Companies Natural Resources Matters of a merely local or private nature unquote The constitutional distribution of legislative powers - Canada.ca

So that's your excuse for wrecking the country?

Carney is critical of Premier Danielle Smith for defending her province. Carney jokes that it's a 'bad idea' to send 'Danielle' to persuade Americans Carney and Trudeau and his minions have been trying to destroy the energy industry in Canada. They have at the same time squandered billions of dollars around the world and here in Canada for various pet projects. They don't respect provincial sovereignty in areas that should be respected like natural resources, land use, and various other things. They have created more division in Canada in the last ten years than any government in history.

Trudeau ran up the highest federal government debt in Canadian history. Multiply the figures by 1,000 to get the actual debt. It is about 1.5 trillion dollars. This is significant because interest must be paid on debt, which must come out of the annual budget. The more spent on interest payment to service the debt, the less money available for other services.

I was kind of neutral about the U.S. election. While I agreed with some things Trump advocated such as stopping all the illegal immigrants from coming in, I don't recall hearing about his plan to impose massive tariffs on his next door neighbours. So I can't agree with those who say Trump is a good choice. I think the tariff war he started with the rest of the world will be a disaster for the U.S. and the world. Nothing good will come out of it and probably a lot of harm. He claims industries are suddenly going to move to the U.S. and create jobs and wealth. I don't think that is how things work. He is cutting off the supply of low cost goods that our countries have imported from other countries. This will make life more expensive and difficult for everyone. Free trade has been a wonderful benefit for the U.S. and other countries they trade with. What a shame this is being destroyed.

I'm not sure about the either the Liberal or Conservative plan. I don't have much faith in government being involved in the land or building. Government and bureaucracy has often been very costly and inefficient. We'll see what develops.

It sounds good. But the subject is complex. The Conservatives need to produce a detailed plan. We need 5 million homes ASAP. The Liberal plan only plans for near 500,000 per year. That is not good enough and it is unlikely they will even get near that number. Maybe what we need is a joint task force made up of Liberals and Conservatives to come up with a plan that everyone can agree on.

II watched for several minutes, but never heard anything that was understandable or clear. Poor speaker. Can't waste a lot of time on this because he should be able to make the point in a couple minutes but it drags on and on. Canada needs 5.8 million new homes by 2030 to tackle affordability crisis, CMHC warns Canada needs 5.8 million new homes by 2030 to tackle affordability crisis, CMHC warns | CBC News What is the plan? Is there any real liberal plan to even come close to 5.8 million homes? I haven't seen it.

We sell 90% of our oil to the U.S. But Trump's trade war has destroyed our trade relationship. An oil company CEO just said we need to shift now to selling our oil (and gas) to the east and west, that is, to countries other than the U.S. That is why the Liberals killing the Energy East pipeline and the Northern Gateway pipeline to the west coast has really put us in a weak position. It will take years to build pipelines. But if Carney sticks to his CO2 net zero, anti-pipeline, anti-energy industry stance, we are in big trouble. It will be very difficult or impossible, if Carney is the PM, to get pipelines built and sell more oil to the rest of the world instead of the U.S. While we are being hog tied by Carney and the Liberals/NDP, the rest of the world is pressing ahead to sell their oil and gas and build their economies. Canada needs to change its whole approach and do everything to develop a booming economy and booming resource industries to protect us from the Trump trade war.

I've told you enough times the Liberals are strangling the energy industry, but you don't seem to believe facts. We could be selling far more to the rest of the world than we are, but we don't have the pipelines to do it and restrictions, cap, etc. are making it far more expensive to produce oil in Canada than the U.S. does. The industry is not doing nearly as well as it could because of the restrictions and carbon taxes. That's what we have now under the Liberals/NDP.

" All those brave words about “Elbows Up” and “Canada Strong” are just hot air and slogans if we’re not prepared to fight for our survival with every weapon at our disposal. Carney’s farcical “Net Zero” fantasy is just bunk. It will consign this country to third-world status at a time when our neighbour is promising to “drill, baby, drill!” It steps on provincial toes and is harmful and divisive. Canada is blessed with abundant resources. To hobble our economy with legislation that’s been deemed unconstitutional is an act of self-harm to the Canadian economy at a time when we need to be unleashing the full power of our potential. " EDITORIAL: Carney’s wrong on pipeline law

Where does most of the oil go? The U.S.? We can't sell overseas via the east coast because the Liberals killed the proposed Energy East pipeline. We can't sell more to Pacific rim countries, India, and Asia because Liberals killed the Northern Gateway pipeline proposal. We haven't increased our oil production and sales to the rest of the world because of Liberal's killing the industry. Natural gas production has not increased in the past 20 or 30 years you will notice. Trudeau turned down the offer to send LNG to European countries. Carney wants to keep net zero and all the regulations and caps on the energy industry. This is paralyzing the energy industry and preventing us from growing and selling world wide. The U.S. is going to drill, drill, drill and produce lots of oil, but Canada can't because of Liberal restrictions and carbon taxes. Carney will keep us from developing our energy industry in the face of Trump tariffs. We need to develop our oil and gas reserves to counter the Trump tariffs. Not keep shooting ourselves in the foot. EDITORIAL: Carney’s wrong on pipeline law

This lie tells me all I need to know about you. The government bought Trans Mountain pipeline. You are the one lying. You conveniently ignore the legislation Trudeau brought in called C69 in 2017. This effectively killed any new pipelines. Trudeau killed the Energy East pipeline and the Northern Gateway pipeline which would have carried oil from Alberta to Kitimat, BC. to ship overseas. Trudeau also put a tanker ban on the BC north coast. They obviously killed pipelines and were working to kill the oil and gas industry in Canada. The fact you support that is the stupidest thing in the world. They only bought Trans Mountain Pipeline because that already existed and was being expanded. It was the only pipeline to the west coast and supplied fuel to B.C. The Liberals had no choice on that one. But they blocked and killed everything else. Stop being a traitor to Canada. Maybe you are posting from China or the middle east eh? Who knows.

If it is extreme environmentalism, it is a religion. It's called Mother Earth worship. God created man and gave him dominion over the environment. Not to sacrifice man on the alter of environmentalism as environmentalists want to do. You can't sacrifice our resource industries to try to save the planet. It won't save anything and only destroy our economy and way of life. Do you want to make Canada a third world country? Canada has a lot of rich natural resources. We can't compete very well in manufacturing because many countries manufacture goods and they pay very low wages and benefits. Out wealth is in the natural resources. That is where we can make prosperity for Canadians.

What attack? Is this just hyperbole? Where have you been? You must have had your head in the sand. The Trudeau Liberals have blocked the building of pipelines, put caps on the energy industry, put carbon taxes on it, and carbon tax on the people. All those things did nothing to affect the climate or the environment. All it did was kill thousands of energy industry and spin off jobs. Reduced the tax income for government and increased the national debt and cost of living for everyone. What specific laws are you talking about? It certainly hasn't been in the news. Heard no such thing. The Conservative government might have changed some laws that shouldn't have been there. They would have done that to restore natural resource development. If you are against natural resource development or against the energy industry, you are wrecking Canada. Where do you think most of the good-paying jobs come from? They are in the natural resource field.

You are obviously obsessed with the wrong thing. The environment is not going to be worse under the Conservatives. There are countless laws and processes that already protect the environment. The attacks against the energy industry is preventing Canada from developing its full potential and keeping Canada crippled. You ignored the need to develop our economy and stop the crime. Sad. You wrongly believe the environment is somehow in great danger. That is a totally false belief. There are serious issues to do with the economy that Canada needs to deal with. However, you're free to believe what you want. Get out your Greta costume and hit the streets.

Is that it? What about eliminating the barriers to resource development and creating a large number of good-paying jobs, building a massive number of affordable homes, apartments, and stopping all the terrible crime? Seems to me the environment is fairly clean in this vast country and there are many regulations protecting it now. The oil and gas industry is a potentially a huge high paying industry that could really contribute a lot of good-paying jobs and taxes for health care and building the military, etc. But the liberals/NDP are blocking the building of pipelines and preventing the extraction of vast resources underground of oil and gas. Why don't you want to help build Canada and prosperity? If the economy is made to boom, there will be lots of tax money to provide good health care and other services. Do you really think my vision is a losing one?

What are you hiding for? Why don't you state clearly in a couple sentences what your vision is and why you disagree with the Conservative's vision?

Many of us have been saying this all along, but usually ignored by the Liberals and left. Canada is in a crisis with the average person unable to afford a home or the high rents, tent cities and homeless people in every town and city, failing health care system, increasing numbers of people relying on food banks, and a soft-on-crime justice system that almost all the time catches and releases dangerous offenders who then go out to stab someone. "For nine years, Canada has been on the wrong track. We’ve pushed away investment through excessive regulation, long approval timelines, and an unpredictable policy environment. We’ve discouraged risk-takers and entrepreneurs. We’ve punished the industries that built our economy — energy, mining, agriculture, and manufacturing — under the banner of climate virtue and political optics." KLEIN: We’ve got bigger problems than Donald Trump So why are some former conservative campaign advisers talking about changing the focus of the campaign to Trump? What is there to say about Trump? Most politicians know what we have to do. Counter tariffs where sensible and build our economy back. The disastrous past nine years is still the main problem in Canada. It appears Liberals and media are using Trump for talking points. That's all it is. Carney just said resource projects can only proceed if they have free and informed consent of FNs. There is the same old problem. No federal leadership. Rather bending over to a small handful of radical FNs, environmentalists, and leftists who oppose the progress and prosperity of Canada. This proves nothing would change under Carney.

Do you get paid by the Liberals or NDP for inventing fake claims?

There is more to it than that? Did you vote for the BC NDP, now proven as absolute dictators in sheep's clothing? "In the face of extreme and mounting pressure against their proposed anti-democratic Bill 7, David Eby and NDP backed down on Friday . The damage to Eby and the NDP, however, has been done. The attempt to sideline the B.C. Legislature using the Trump tariff threat as cover was as naked a power grab as we have seen in this province and confirms the current NDP and Eby instinct to find ways to exclude not only parliament from the decision making and legislative process, but the public as well. No decision B.C.’s NDP government makes now can be taken at face value and must instead be viewed with suspicion as to its true intention." Adam Pankratz: B.C. NDP prefers autocratic governance Maybe the sky is falling.

How childish can you get? You need to read what your beloved BC NDP has been up to. They evidently have been working on taking away democratic rights and land use rights of all citizens. Their latest attempt with Bill 7 was not the beginning. They tried that before the last election. They have no respect for democracy. Adam Pankratz: B.C. NDP prefers autocratic governance "In the face of extreme and mounting pressure against their proposed anti-democratic Bill 7, David Eby and NDP backed down on Friday . The damage to Eby and the NDP, however, has been done. The attempt to sideline the B.C. Legislature using the Trump tariff threat as cover was as naked a power grab as we have seen in this province and confirms the current NDP and Eby instinct to find ways to exclude not only parliament from the decision making and legislative process, but the public as well. No decision B.C.’s NDP government makes now can be taken at face value and must instead be viewed with suspicion as to its true intention." Is this what half the voters voted for? Looks like it. A sad commentary on human intelligence and gullibility.