Why I Won't Vote NDP

[PIK]

What about the NDP paying martin suit and the liberal party paying off mulcairs defamation suit at the tune of 95,000 dollars. That not count for anything?

Edited August 28, 2015 by PIK

[Argus]

and once again, we hear the plaintive Harper whine over 2008 stimulus spending echoed by one of his most loyal MLW supporters... "they made me do it... they made me do it"! Oh wait now, hey Argus! You guys sure like to talk up a storm about how Harper championed Canada through the 2008 mega recession because of stimulus spending! Which was it... will you ever make up your mind?

I make no such claim about the stimulus spending. However, if you had even a scintilla of honesty, which of course, you don't, you'd admit that if the Liberals or NDP were in power at the time of the financial crisis Canada would be in deficit all these years too. The difference being the deficits would have been bigger, and we'd still be far from a balanced budget. Heck, things are pretty good now and Trudeau still wants to plunge us back into big deficits!

[Derek 2.0]

Harper keeps saying he'll balance the budget but never does and you're suddenly worried about deficits?

Does surplus equate to balanced budget?

April's GM stock sale raised about $2.7 billion for Ottawa's coffers. The government also raised similar amounts in previous sales, but collectively the total was not enough to recoup Ottawa's entire financial investment.

The GM sale wasn't the only reason for the surplus, however. Revenues for the three-month period were $73.3 billion, up by $6.2 billion, because of more money from "income taxes, excise taxes and duties," the government said in a release.

The higher revenue more than offset expenses, which rose by $2.2 billion to $61.3 billion for the month.

That gap between expenses and income is $12 billion, but the surplus shrinks to $5 billion once the $7 billion Ottawa spent financing the national debt is factored in.

So even discounting the one time sale of GM shares, the downfall in the price of oil and the Canadian dollar, PM Harper has a balanced budget?

[cybercoma]

No, Derek. A surplus is not a balanced budget and those figures were already considered by the PBO when they forecasted a billion dollar shortfall by the end of the 2015/16 budgetary period.

[Smallc]

No, Derek. A surplus is not a balanced budget and those figures were already considered by the PBO when they forecasted a billion dollar shortfall by the end of the 2015/16 budgetary period.

The figures from July weren't included and couldn't have been.

[cybercoma]

The figures from July weren't included and couldn't have been.

They accounted for things that were happening throughout the year. How do you suppose the extended election will factor into it? Something the PBO certainly didn't account for. Edited August 28, 2015 by cybercoma

[Derek 2.0]

No, Derek. A surplus is not a balanced budget and those figures were already considered by the PBO when they forecasted a billion dollar shortfall by the end of the 2015/16 budgetary period.

Just throwing it out there, but could the PBO's forecast have been wrong?

[cybercoma]

It could, but they've been wrong far fewer times than Harper's forecasting.

[Smallc]

They accounted for things that were happening throughout the year. How do you suppose the extended election will factor into it? Something the PBO certainly didn't account for.

That's a few million dollars, about $100M at most. Thought the June surplus was smaller than last year, we have an accumulated surplus already of $5B for the year. That's not bad considering our current situation (and it's also not clear what the final result of last year's numbers were. It should be very close to balance when we get the final figures).

[Smallc]

It could, but they've been wrong far fewer times than Harper's forecasting.

The Harper government actually has almost always done better than PBO projections:

http://www.nugget.ca/2010/03/12/flaherty-page-wrong-14

Seems like the PBO was wrong then, doesn't it, given that last fiscal year's budget will end with somewhere between a $2B deficit and balance.

[Topaz]

Harper keeps saying he'll balance the budget but never does and you're suddenly worried about deficits?

Harper says a lot of things but words mean nothing to Harper, he says things he needs to say at the time.

[WIP]

Tom Mulcair is showing himself to be a student of Machiavelli/ rather than a man of principle, now that he's trying to grasp the brass ring and become Prime Minister. He's doing his best Stephen Harper imitation by talking balanced budgets, and another story that really bothered me (even though nobody here seems to have noticed) withdrawing from the women's issues debate because Stephen Harper wasn't going to be there. Anyone who really respects democratic principles will show up for every debate available.

That said, like a majority of Canadians this time round: the Conservatives have to go! So, I'll vote NDP or Liberal if I really have to.....otherwise I'll try to bump up the Green Party tally figuring my vote won't be needed in the riding I'm in.

[socialist]

I don't think a lot of people realize what's at stake in Paris, the UN wants to form a Climate Justice Tribunal (aka World Government) funded to the tune of $100B a year with "contributions" from the Western Governments (the guilty ones) that will grant itself the right to over rule sovereign nations on any issue that may affect the climate and or charge countries that violate and laws.

Mulcair and Trudeau are eager to sign up.

Harper not so much.

I think any Western Democracy leader that signs onto this should be tried for treason.

Edited August 29, 2015 by socialist

[cybercoma]

That's a few million dollars, about $100M at most. Thought the June surplus was smaller than last year, we have an accumulated surplus already of $5B for the year. That's not bad considering our current situation (and it's also not clear what the final result of last year's numbers were. It should be very close to balance when we get the final figures).

You want to check those numbers again? There is no accumulated surplus for the entire year. That's for a 3 month period. We're ending month 8.

[socialist]

You want to check those numbers again? There is no accumulated surplus for the entire year. That's for a 3 month period. We're ending month 8.

The dour-faced socialists will have to spend their first few years learning that there are budgets and beancounters, debt financing, and endless lines of rent-seekers in addition to their union masters. The end result will be large deficits, poor bond ratings, high unemployment, some idiotic foreign agreements, but the reality of Canada's resource dependency hits home eventually, even to the NDP. Remember, the NDP is just the union-brand version of "progressive conservatives" on steroids. The LPC is simply a confused husk of a progressive centre-left formerly happy-faced socialist party currently under simpleton leadership.

[cybercoma]

Tom Mulcair is showing himself to be a student of Machiavelli/ rather than a man of principle, now that he's trying to grasp the brass ring and become Prime Minister. He's doing his best Stephen Harper imitation by talking balanced budgets, and another story that really bothered me (even though nobody here seems to have noticed) withdrawing from the women's issues debate because Stephen Harper wasn't going to be there. Anyone who really respects democratic principles will show up for every debate available.

That said, like a majority of Canadians this time round: the Conservatives have to go! So, I'll vote NDP or Liberal if I really have to.....otherwise I'll try to bump up the Green Party tally figuring my vote won't be needed in the riding I'm in.

The NDP has always advocated balanced budgets and the NDP has delivered on more balanced/surplus budgets for each year in power than any other party federally and provincially combined.

The women's issue debate is another thing altogether. If Harper doesn't show up, Mulcair has absolutely no reason to tear apart the left by debating with Trudeau and May. It makes no sense to hold a debate with the prime minister sitting at home, eating popcorn, and watching the other leaders take shots at each other. The NDP offered an alternative to the group organizing the women's debate. They suggested 1 on 1 interviews, so the leaders could discuss the issue and get their platforms out or some other method to discuss the issues. The group organizing the debate never got back to them. The NDP currently has one of the largest female caucuses we've ever seen in Canada and 42% of the candidates in the next election are women. Those numbers are unprecedented. There is no other party that even comes close to the NDP's dedication and work on women's issues. Mulcair refusing to fall victim to Harper's game of having the left tear itself down speak nothing to the NDP's demonstrable commitment to women's issues.

[cybercoma]

The dour-faced socialists will have to spend their first few years learning that there are budgets and beancounters, debt financing, and endless lines of rent-seekers in addition to their union masters. The end result will be large deficits, poor bond ratings, high unemployment, some idiotic foreign agreements, but the reality of Canada's resource dependency hits home eventually, even to the NDP. Remember, the NDP is just the union-brand version of "progressive conservatives" on steroids. The LPC is simply a confused husk of a progressive centre-left formerly happy-faced socialist party currently under simpleton leadership.

I have no interest discussing these issues with a flip-flopping forum troll. It's not even thinly veiled when you post nonsense like "dour-faced socialists" with their "idiotic foreign agreements" under "simpleton leadership." Come back under a different schtick. This one sucked when you were a "socialist" and it sucks now that you've gone back to your original posting style before you created your socialist account.

[socialist]

I have no interest discussing these issues with a flip-flopping forum troll. It's not even thinly veiled when you post nonsense like "dour-faced socialists" with their "idiotic foreign agreements" under "simpleton leadership." Come back under a different schtick. This one sucked when you were a "socialist" and it sucks now that you've gone back to your original posting style before you created your socialist account.

This is my only account. Sorry you don't like the fact that I walk your partisan line anymore. Who was I before? If you know then tell me. Otherwise, close your yap if you have no proof. You ant people to keep their heads in the sand with regards to your beloved NDP. I now see them for what they really are. I took my blinders off. Maybe you should try it.

[cybercoma]

I didn't like you before you flipped. Don't get it twisted.

[socialist]

I didn't like you before you flipped. Don't get it twisted.

I didn't flipped. I started looking at things from an objective point of view. Socialism was hammered into me for a long time. I made a conversion to become an independent. There was a time when I blindly believed the things guys like you spewed, News flash, buddy....that happens no more. Sorry that upsets you.

[Smallc]

You want to check those numbers again? There is no accumulated surplus for the entire year.

I clearly meant for the year thus far. We have no way of knowing the numbers this year. Hell, we still don't know the numbers from last year.

[socialist]

I clearly meant for the year thus far. We have no way of knowing the numbers this year. Hell, we still don't know the numbers from last year.

Mulcair's policy during his leadership run is substantially different than his election platform, so I'm not sure if the debate should be or will be over. Remember all that talk of Dutch disease and the issue of oil out west hurting manufacturing in the East? You certainly don't hear that from Mulcair now.

[On Guard for Thee]

That's a few million dollars, about $100M at most. Thought the June surplus was smaller than last year, we have an accumulated surplus already of $5B for the year. That's not bad considering our current situation (and it's also not clear what the final result of last year's numbers were. It should be very close to balance when we get the final figures).

Smoke and mirrors #'s. Over half the so called surplus came from the sale of GM stock. A bunch more from raiding the EI fund. Those one trick pony's do not a surplus make.

[socialist]

Smoke and mirrors #'s. Over half the so called surplus came from the sale of GM stock. A bunch more from raiding the EI fund. Those one trick pony's do not a surplus make.

The NDP believe that everyone should be equal.

However, very few socialists see themselves as an actual worker.

They realize that the workers need a firm guiding hand, and who better to apply that hand, but the ones that created the system.

And of course, to distinguish themselves from the others, maybe an extra perk or two.

Scratch a 'progressive', they ooze loathing for the common man.

[Smallc]

Smoke and mirrors #'s. Over half the so called surplus came from the sale of GM stock. A bunch more from raiding the EI fund. Those one trick pony's do not a surplus make.

Even without the sale of GM stock, it would still be $2B more than this time last year. That's during a downturn in the economy, which apparently ended in a big way in June (stay tuned for Tuesday).