Harper's lengthy list of failures..a small sampling

[Rick]

Courtesy of a well informed voter at TGN

Jim Flaherty turned a structural surplus into a structural deficit in two years, before the recession even began.

Harper and Flaherty insisted that recession wouldn't affect Canada and had no intention of providing any kind of stimulus until the threat of a non-confidence vote frightened them into it.

Has anyone seen any sign of a coherent policy on limiting greenhouse gas emissions? How about a strategy for dealing with the climate change that's already happening and will continue to happen even if everyone straightens up and starts doing what ought to be done tomorrow?

In a move that's been panned by everyone but loyal Conservatives and the Fraser Institute, they've eliminated the long form census and threatened the usefulness and integrity of much of what will come out of Statistics Canada going forward.

22 Canadians died in an outbreak of listeriosis after the Conservatives revamped meat inspection regulations and procedures. Over two years later there were still reports of inadequate inspections and insufficient inspectors.

Despite being the party that supports the troops, they sacrificed a forward operating base in the UAE at a cost of $300 million dollars — the cost of an "unnecessary election" — for what turned out to be no good reason.

Do I need to list the bad personnel decisions that Harper has made? We can start with an integrity commissioner who performed so poorly that she was the headline in a report from the Auditor General.

They traded away the rights of provinces and municipalities to favour domestic suppliers in return for access to an American stimulus program that expired 11 days after the agreement went into affect.

They fueled the crisis in refugee claims that they claim they want to solve by failing to appoint the officials who process the claims.

By last year, Environment Canada was so far behind in filing annual reports that then Environment Minister Jim Prentice was in danger of facing a charge of contempt of Parliament. Maybe that's why he left for the private sector. (And they may just be reports, but they're required by legislation. It's one of the means for that accountability we've heard so much about.)

And who can forget then Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor having to apologize for misleading the Commons by claiming that the Red Cross was monitoring the welfare of Afghans detained by Canadian Forces when it wasn't? You'd think a minister of defence who had previously been a Brigadier-General might have a better handle on these things, wouldn't you? O'Connor was almost immediately on the hot seat again for announcing a new agreement about the handling of detainees only to have it revealed that the agreement was still being negotiated.

It took the Conservatives until Nov. of 2010 to realize that Veterans Affairs "wasn't ready for the influx of wounded soldiers from Afghanistan." What did they think was going to happen with the Canadian Forces deployed to a war zone?

Continued on the flip.

In 2007 when Public Works Minister Michael Fortier announced the purchase of 100 used Leopard 2 tanks, he bragged that it showed "the Harper government's ability to obtain equipment quickly." In 2009, the Chief of Land Staff of the Canadian Forces was still wondering when he'd see them. At that point the government still hadn't contracted anyone to do necessary upgrades to the tanks. It was subsequently reported that the work would go to foreign firms because it was suddenly a rush job.

In January of 2008, then Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon announced 'made in Canada' fuel economy standards. Since previous Conservative legislation required that the auto industry be given three years notice, Cannon's plan was to publish the new standards at the end of 2008 to take effect for the 2011 model year. He missed his own publishing deadline.

Last July it was reported that Public Works had "failed to disclose $869 million in contracts to preferred suppliers." The result would be to grossly understate the value of contracts that avoid the normal tendering process. Oops.

The Canadian government "lagged" in making arrangements to get stranded Canadian citizens out of Gaza in advance of the ground assault portion of Operation Cast Lead. This was after being criticized for being slow to react during the hostilities between Israel and Lebanon in 2006.

In 2006 the Conservatives announced a public transit tax credit as a means to reduce GHG emissions. Three years later it was reported that a way to measure the effectiveness of the tax credit still hadn't been created.

In March of 2009, three years after the first Harper Government™ had been sworn in, Auditor General Sheila Fraser took them to task for thoroughly screwing up the process of making appointments to "multibillion-dollar commissions, boards and tribunals."

Remember the classified documents Maxime Bernier left at his girlfriend's house (international recognition!)? How about the sensitive documents that Lisa Raitt left behind in a television studio?

In a country with a well-documented infrastructure deficit, a 2009 audit found that Infrastructure Canada was "poorly staffed" and had been hiring "unqualified employees."

It begs the question of just how blind are Harper's loyal disciples that they could actually look past these complete failings of the Harper government to continue to support a government which has been the most contemptuous in Canadian history and lacking in respect for the democratic institutions for which Canada stands for.

[scribblet]

Liberals think they can do no wrong, and conservatives think the Liberals will lie and raise our taxes. The latter is correct. LOL

[Scotty]

Courtesy of a well informed voter at TGN

It begs the question of just how blind are Harper's loyal disciples that they could actually look past these complete failings of the Harper government to continue to support a government which has been the most contemptuous in Canadian history and lacking in respect for the democratic institutions for which Canada stands for.

I'm guessing that you know pretty much _nothing_ about Canadian political history.

[Battletoads]

Judging by the posts in this thread I could swear the rallying cry of the Cons is "but the liberals did it to"

[Bob]

I couldn't read more than half of that copy-paste job... it's all simplistic spin. Literally 100% of the "failures" I read are misrepresented. From the UAE thing to the AG report, it's all spin.

Why can't you come up with legitimate grievances against the Harper government? He didn't cut nearly enough wasteful spending and continues to fund useless projects and departments. He appeases French nationalists, although he is harder on the separatists than the other parties. He chose to engage in Libya. He made a ridiculous 1% GST reduction that did nothing for anyone. Where's the leadership on improving educational standards in primary and secondary schools (and no, I don't mean spending more money)? - although it is an issue largely under provincial control. And on and on and on...

Try coming up with legitimate beefs, and not simplistic leftist talking points that are 100% pure spin.

[capricorn]

Try coming up with legitimate beefs, and not simplistic leftist talking points that are 100% pure spin.

I think Rick meant this thread to be a catch-all of Conservative misdeeds. IMO it's a lazy approach which does not require Rick to read other threads in order to engage in rational discussions of specific issues.

[Bob]

I think Rick meant this thread to be a catch-all of Conservative misdeeds. IMO it's a lazy approach which does not require Rick to read other threads in order to engage in rational discussions of specific issues.

I didn't want to say it because I didn't want to seem like a complainer, but these editorial threads are quite tiresome and annoying, regardless of which political party is being attacked or promoted with simplistic arguments.

[Shakeyhands]

instead of complaining about the format, why don't you whiners try refuting or justifying the instances?

[capricorn]

instead of complaining about the format, why don't you whiners try refuting or justifying the instances?

Rick cuts and pastes from a blogger calling himself TNG, which TNG cut and pasted from a blogger naming himself pogge.

http://www.pogge.ca/archives/003226.shtml

The blogger TNG didn't even bother to give credit to pogge's for the blog, the originator of the post.

So Rick is the 3rd generation of this cut and pasted thread.

I might be wrong, but somehow, I doubt the mods encourage this sort of thing.

Not one word is Rick's work so why should I engage him? If I wanted to engage someone, I'd do it on pogge's blog, who is the originator.

[Bryan]

Not one word is Rick's work so why should I engage him? If I wanted to engage someone, I'd do it on pogge's blog, who is the originator.

Also note that Pogge admits that his list is not researched or even fact checked, it's just "off the top of his head" (his words).

[Bob]

instead of complaining about the format, why don't you whiners try refuting or justifying the instances?

Why should I feel compelled to reply to all false accusations that are blatant misrepresentations of events? It's tiring and frustrating. Sometimes I have the patience to do so, other times I do not.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Bob

[Scotty]

Judging by the posts in this thread I could swear the rallying cry of the Cons is "but the liberals did it to"

No, I'd say it's more like some sniveling about the Conservatives having had parking tickets, and maybe a run-in with jaywalking, by partisans of mafia dons, bank robbers and pimps.

[Scotty]

instead of complaining about the format, why don't you whiners try refuting or justifying the instances?

Why don't you people representing the party of mafia thugs and thieves come up with something worth refuting?

[kimmy]

instead of complaining about the format, why don't you whiners try refuting or justifying the instances?

or why don't I start cut-and-pasting talking-points memos from anti-Liberal sources and see how long it takes you to start complaining to the mods, rules enthusiast?

-k