Forget about the future deficits, and let's talk Harper lies

[Jerry J. Fortin]

Well, the cupboard is bare now. This auto industry bailout will continue that good work.

[DrGreenthumb]

Is'nt this the standard Tory con game?

It's simply ideological with these hacks...All things public are BAD!!!All things private are Good because "Private Sector Discipline"(like Enron) will protect the public purse and competition will bring the best prices!

Off course this is a con game because while the hacks are giving folks boutique tax cuts,which do nothing but rob the gov't of the funds to do anything in bad times but act as the bread in their Tory circus,they are selling off assets that add value to the state as a whole.Unfortunately,these "economists" tend to sell off the assets at a fire sale rate(see the 407) to cover their usual fiscal incompetence.This happens until there are no assets to sell and the tax cut election hooks prove worthless and the cupboard is bare.

Kind of reminds me of the telephone system that Manitobans used to own until Gary Filmon sold it. Funny how our phone bills went up and the level of service has been going down every year since. If the conservatives in Manitoba ever get their claws back into power they will sell off our publicly owned Hydro too. I wouldn't doubt they would like to go after our public auto insurance company too. Conservatives always screw up our economy so bad they have to sell the furniture to pay the rent. Total incompetance.

[Brunopolis]

In Alberta was faced deregulation and privatization. The net cost to the citizen was very high because at the time we were in debt and were having services cut to reduce our operating deficit. However, today the government in Alberta is debt free. Actually we are still paying down a liability that was recently found in our Alberta Teachers Pension Plan, but for all intents and purposes we are without debt. The point being wherever there was room to reduce bureaucratic effort and expense, where ever there was the potential to reduce public expenditures, the government took the bull by the horns and dealt with the problem. Our problems started with the NEP and continued for decades until the politicians finally decided to act. Even then it was years of heart ache before the goal was realized.

My point is that with a specific goal in mind, a government can legislate and reform its internal operations to achieve that goal. The thing of it is that you have to know what you want, then make the tough calls to get there.

Alberta is not a valid comparison due to the huge oil wealth at their disposal. I could say Venezuela or Saudi Arabia are "fiscally prudent" countries because they have no debt but I doubt you'd agree with me. Sure this oil boom is coming to a close(at least in Alberta due to the high costs of refining the oil sands) but the benefits and investment it provided Alberta are still there. I think every province in Canada(except maybe Quebec) would be debt free if they had oil sands in their borders.