Harper vs Mulroney

[blueblood]

YesNo

Nice to see your drinking the red koolaid this go round lol.

Harper ran 2 balanced budgets right after being elected and slayed the deficit which was imposed with a gun to his head. It took a while to pay off said deficit as slaying it too quickly with a 2011 election would have made him unelectable as the cuts would have been too much to bear. However the deficit was slayed in the timeline he set forth. However, since harper was not as fun as trudeau, the electorate had enough of harper and tossed him, in spite of tfsas, good fiscal management, numerous trade deals that when ratified will be a boost to the economy. I shudder to imagine what would happen if harpwr hadnt outmanouvered the coalition...

[Smallc]

Harper ran 2 balanced budgets right after being elected and slayed the deficit which was imposed with a gun to his head.

He did fine. I simply wouldn't call him the best fiscal manager ever.

[SpankyMcFarland]

Settled more aboriginal land claims than all previous prime ministers combined.

More international trade agreements than all previous prime ministers combined.

Most open and accountable government in Canadian history.

Best fiscal manager in Canadian history.

Open and accountable? You have GOT to be kidding. In temperament, he was paranoid, secretive and controlling, completely opposed to the Reform agenda.

Fiscal management wasn't bad but I would have to give Chretien and Martin higher marks there. They stopped the rot and put the banks on the right track.

[Bryan]

Open and accountable?

Most open and accountable in history.

Trudeau has already put measures into stop things from being disclosed anymore. You just won't know what he did, because the information will not be available. You just won't know where the money was or was not spent, because the information will not be available.

[SpankyMcFarland]

Mulroney got a lot done e.g. GST, FTA, a free vote on capital punishment and principled opposition to Apartheid. Unfortunately, his legacy was marred by brown envelopes and yet I'd give him a good grade overall. He left the country in better shape. The debt did rise rapidly under him despite Michael Wilson's efforts but that was a problem largely created by his predecessors. Since Mulroney came to power, there has been a broad consensus on national debt issues in Canada that I hope we maintain. Are you taking notes, JT?

[SpankyMcFarland]

I do hope we stop with this childish misnaming of legislation that became so prominent under Harper. Call a bill what it is and leave sales to the MPs.

[SpankyMcFarland]

I'm more in the mindset of do no harm as PM. Mulroney's GST was an incredibly bad idea and continues to be a weight on our economy. Like all VAT taxes are.

The GST was such a bad idea it was immediately abandoned by the Liberals and is now just a distant memory for all of us.

[Bryan]

I'm more in the mindset of do no harm as PM. Mulroney's GST was an incredibly bad idea and continues to be a weight on our economy. Like all VAT taxes are.

The selling of it was poorly executed. People still think it was a new "added" tax. It replaced the previous 13.5% Manufacturers' Sales Tax and 11% Federal Telecommunications Tax.

The problem with VATs, IMO, is that govts try to do them in addition to all the other taxes. Tax at time of consumption is a good policy because people can actually make choices daily to reduce their tax burden. It's when you're paying consumption tax on top of income taxes and other taxes that it becomes -- like you said -- a "weight on our economy".

[blueblood]

He did fine. I simply wouldn't call him the best fiscal manager ever.

Id say him and pmpm are compareable. I didnt really notice significant change with harper vs pmpm in hindsight.

[Smallc]

Id say him and pmpm are compareable. I didnt really notice significant change with harper vs pmpm in hindsight.

I would agree with that for the most part. The main difference is that Paul Martin was willing to spend money. Harper wanted to slowly starve the beast.