The Conservative Spending Spree

[Smallc]

You see all of the expenses as necessary such as Bombardier development money, the VIA Rail money and the $4 million a day in spending announcements?

I'm talking about this particular announcement. More often than not though, the money announced is needed.

[jdobbin]

I'm talking about this particular announcement. More often than not though, the money announced is needed.

The Conservatives used to denounce the Liberal spending announcements as pure politics. The Reform party under Harper criticized funding Bombardier planes. Now, the Tories say the funding is necessary.

[Smallc]

The Conservatives used to denounce the Liberal spending announcements as pure politics. The Reform party under Harper criticized funding Bombardier planes. Now, the Tories say the funding is necessary.

I agree with that, but the Banff money was very much needed and more is needed yet to finish Banff and to twin Yoho.

[normanchateau]

Exactly.

It was only a bad deal when the Liberals did it . Anything is ok when you are a Conservative.

Now that the inept Harper Conservatives have captured the crown as being the biggest spenders in the history of Canada, they view it as a virtue rather than a vice:

http://andrewcoyne.com/columns/2007/03/fla...ig-spenders.php

The incompetent Harper government has now managed to finally spend more than they're taking in:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/25/...ce.html?ref=rss

So much for fiscal conservatism.

Instead of using the largest surplus in the history of Canada to reduce marginal income tax rates for all Canadians, Harper squandered it by giving billions to Quebec from the rest of Canada to correct the "fiscal imbalance" which Jean Charest shrewdly used to lower income tax rates in Quebec. And what does the incompetent Harper have to show for his multibillion dollar gift to Quebec at the expense of the rest of Canada?

"In Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois leads all parties with 37 per cent of support, but the Liberals are in second place with 27 per cent and the Tories are well back of that with just 18 per cent."

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.ht...52-796f0649a1be

CPC made a huge mistake in selecting a social conservative rather than a fiscal conservative to lead their party. For CPC to elect a majority, Harper will need to be replaced with a fiscal conservative who is not a social conservative.

[jdobbin]

They have been spending money the last few days like it is going out of style.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...tos&no_ads=

In one single day Tuesday, Prentice's department issued four news releases, including announcements of $2 million for new municipal infrastructure in Port Hope, Ont., and $43 million for a research project led by Magellan Aerospace of Mississauga, Ont.

The government had already spent actively in the buildup to an anticipated election that never materialized in spring 2007, pumping out more than $2 billion in unbudgeted spending in a matter of days.

[DanInOttawa]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories

Some of the spending plans are normal government business. But 78 new releases?

Yeesh. Talk about cynical politics. This is what Harper used to complain about with the Liberals.

It certainly won't help him if he doesn't have an actual legislative agenda come the fall. Spending money isn't the same thing as actually controlling the agenda.

Canada's New Government, as it likes to call itself, is doing what every other government has traditionally done when it finds itself getting beat up politically: It's spending money.

Though Parliament has been in summer recess for just 13 days, the federal government has issued 78 press releases in which it announced, re-announced, or took credit for more than $5-billion in spending.

I agree there is some spending going on but I don't see a big spending spree. I also don't understand the "when it finds itself getting beat up politically" comment. The latest polls show Harper out in front with lots of Canadian support.

The latest Strategic Counsel Poll, conducted for CTV and the Globe and Mail, indicates that Conservative support rose sharply in the past few months (percentage-point change from a June 6-9 poll in brackets):

* Conservatives: 37 per cent (+5)

* Liberals: 29 per cent (-1)

* New Democrats: 17 per cent (-1)

* Green Party: 9 per cent (-1)

* Bloc Quebecois: 8 per cent (-2)

It's the largest lead the Conservatives have had over the Liberals since last March, when they were briefly ahead by 11 points. In addition, the latest poll suggests 49 per cent of Canadians feel Canada is on the right track, while only 34 per cent feel the country is on the wrong track.

- CTV.ca News Staff

[jdobbin]

I agree there is some spending going on but I don't see a big spending spree. I also don't understand the "when it finds itself getting beat up politically" comment. The latest polls show Harper out in front with lots of Canadian support.

That poll came out pretty much in the same time frame that had the Liberals in front or the Tories tied with the Liberals.

The Tories promised to cap spending in 2006 and keep promising to do so. They have broken that promise every budget.

Edited September 3, 2008 by jdobbin

[jdobbin]

Another $80 million for a Tory spending problem.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080903/...lxn_harper_ford

The $80-million federal investment to save a mothballed Ford plant in Windsor was significant because it marked a stark change in attitude toward Ontario, whose premier's pleas for financial aid for the ailing auto and manufacturing sectors have been spurned time and time again in the last year.

Liberal finance critic John McCallum recalled that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty publicly lectured Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberals about the need to cut taxes to shore its economy and suggested Ontario is the last place to invest.

All of this is unbudgeted expenses.

[Smallc]

Another $80 million for a Tory spending problem.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080903/...lxn_harper_ford

All of this is unbudgeted expenses.

No, actually the PM said today that all their announcements have been budgeted. I'm not sure if thats true for all, but I know for a fact that this one was. Its from the $250M Strategic Auto Innovation Fund or whatever its called. The first project to qualify.

[jdobbin]

No, actually the PM said today that all their announcements have been budgeted. I'm not sure if thats true for all, but I know for a fact that this one was. Its from the $250M Strategic Auto Innovation Fund or whatever its called. The first project to qualify.

All their announcements?

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/he...ntent=b0902127A

The Conservatives also announced more than $2 billion in unbudgeted spending in the runup to an anticipated election in early 2007.

[Smallc]

All their announcements?

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/he...ntent=b0902127A

His words, not mine, but this particular announcement was in the budget.

[jdobbin]

His words, not mine, but this particular announcement was in the budget.

From the generally supportive of Tory organization Canadian Federation of Taxpayers.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080905/national/fedelxn

Federation director John Williamson says there have been almost 300 pre-election commitments, adding up to about $94 million a day, or almost $4 million every hour.

Williamson says the spending binge is exactly the kind of pre-election splurge Prime Minister Stephen Harper criticized the Liberals for in the run-up to the 2006 federal election.

Among the big-ticket Tory commitments: $1.1 billion for a so-called "road map for linguistic duality;" $350,000 for an ice cream company in Prince Edward Island; and $297,000 for a ski club in Newfoundland.

[Smallc]

From the generally supportive of Tory organization Canadian Federation of Taxpayers.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080905/national/fedelxn

They haven't been supportive for a while. Too much spending for their liking. At least this got done:

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/In...ada-896927.html

Edited September 5, 2008 by Smallc

[jdobbin]

They haven't been supportive for a while. Too much spending for their liking. At least this got done:

Make that close to $9 billion in spending.

Too much spending for my liking and the Tories used to criticize this type of wild announcements. Heck, what are they going to announce in the election? More spending?

[Ontario Loyalist]

The hypocracy of this pre-election spending is monumental...

[Smallc]

Just as an update, tonight on the National, Terry Milewski confirmed that all of the money ($8.8B) was budgeted for.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Smallc

[jdobbin]

Just as an update, tonight on the National, Terry Milewski confirmed that all of the money ($8.8B) was budgeted for.

So in other words, they budgeted overspending their 2006 election promise.

[Smallc]

So in other words, they budgeted overspending their 2006 election promise.

Apparently so.

[jdobbin]

Just as an update, tonight on the National, Terry Milewski confirmed that all of the money ($8.8B) was budgeted for.

Was $19.2 billion budgeted for?

"This is not new spending over and above the funds approved by Parliament in Budget 2008," the spokesman said.

Regardless, the federation noted the 2008 Conservative budget set spending growth at 3.4 per cent this fiscal year.

Research director Adam Taylor said the Tory minority government has consistently underestimated spending growth since it took power in January 2006.

The Finance Department reported last month that expenditures grew by 11.1 per cent in June alone and swelled by 8.4 per cent in the first quarter, or two-and-a-half times the 2008 budget plan.

[Smallc]

Was $19.2 billion budgeted for?

Actually, I believe Global said that it was during the news cast tonight.

[jdobbin]

Actually, I believe Global said that it was during the news cast tonight.

Budgeted overspending. Even in the last budget Harper and Flaherty promised not do this.