Liberal promises crumbling

[Rwede]

The only real surprise is just how quickly Liberal promises crumbled

National Post | December 18, 2015 8:24 AM ET


The Trudeau government has been in office six weeks, and nearly every plank of their fiscal platform has splintered into pieces. The only real surprise is just how quickly it happened. Finance Minister Bill Morneau is bringing in an advisory council of experts who know how to grow successful economies, as he announced on Monday. Given the Liberals’ early fiscal track record, it is probably wise at this point to seek guidance from those who didn’t put the Liberal platform together.

To recap, the Liberal tax scheme was to hike taxes on those earning more than $200,000 annually, in order to pay for a “revenue-neutral” tax cut in other brackets. The reality is that these measures are not revenue neutral, and will actually blow at least a $1.2 billion hole in the budget. Their plan was also for annual deficits of no more than $10 billion, to cover billions in spending that is supposed to help grow the economy. But combine this spending spree with the Liberals’ bad math on their tax plan, and their $10 billion deficit cap is now nothing but a memory. In fact, Liberal ministers have been instructed to not even mention their $10 billion deficit pledge any more. Yet both the Parliamentary Budget Officer and Morneau’s old shop, the C.D. Howe Institute, have indicated that deficits will be higher than originally predicted.

The only real surprise is just how quickly it happened.

With their promise to cap the deficit safely in the rearview mirror, the question becomes how long the Liberals will be running them. Will their promise to balance the budget in time for the next election be the next one to fall by the wayside? All indications are that it will, given the new Liberal “fiscal anchor” of shrinking the net-debt-to-GDP ratio, rather than actually balancing the budget. Conveniently, this would allow them to spend as much as $25 billion a year more than they take in. That’s a pretty convenient “anchor.” It sounds like someone already dropped it through the hull of the ship.

In explaining his shift in position, Prime Minister Trudeau stated he “hopes for modest deficits.” We think Canadians deserve more than just a hope and a wish. They deserve a plan, because Canadians know you can’t wish away a deficit, and budgets don’t, in fact, balance themselves.

This deficit spree would be more palatable if there was any indication of what it might do to create jobs and growth. But so far, the Liberal fiscal approach has been simply to set the stage for blowing through their targets, with no explanation of how this spending will help to grow the economy. If these deficit plans simply saddle Canadians with billions of dollars of new program spending, the economic effect is likely to be negligible — but the structural deficit left behind certainly won’t be.

Canadians deserve a government that will take the country’s finances seriously. Instead, just six weeks into their new mandate, the Liberals have given themselves licence for long-term fiscal recklessness, telling Canadians that piling up more debt is okay as long as debt-to-GDP doesn’t get out of whack. That’s cold comfort for Canadians who will one day be asked to repay the cost of this structural deficit through higher taxes.

We’ve seen the results of this kind of Liberal fiscal carelessness before. As a girl growing up in Cape Breton, I well remember the economic chaos caused by the MacEachen budgets of the early 1980s brought down when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister. Morneau only has only one chance to get his first budget right. He should put a cap on the deficit, say no to massive new program spending, and keep Canada a fiscally prudent path.

National Post

[GrooveTunes]

https://www.trudeaumetre.ca/

[I Think]

Harper the Horrible squanders a surplus,
Runs up a massive deficit,
JT is put in the position
Of having to repair the devastation,
with no reserve funds.
All Thanks to Harper the Horrible, self proclaimed responsible guardian of the public purse.

[SmokeOnTheWater]

I like the promises he kept so far.
Bringing back long form census, foreign diplomats are now free to speak to the media, the scientists are now free to speak to the media , re-opening the Kitsilano Coast Guard base, moratorium ban on crude oil tankers on the Northern B.C. Coast .. all promises implemented in the first week.
Drop the niqab appeal, reopening of Veterans Affairs Offices, meet with Premiers for the first time since 2009, bring in the refugees.
What I am really looking forward to is the ending of the combat mission in Iraq, no partisan ads, no prorogation, no omnibus bills ( that's a big one in my books ). He obviously won't be perfect but so far so good.

[Glacier]

I like the promises he kept so far.
Bringing back long form census, foreign diplomats are now free to speak to the media, the scientists are now free to speak to the media , re-opening the Kitsilano Coast Guard base, moratorium ban on crude oil tankers on the Northern B.C. Coast .. all promises implemented in the first week.
Drop the niqab appeal, reopening of Veterans Affairs Offices, meet with Premiers for the first time since 2009, bring in the refugees.
What I am really looking forward to is the ending of the combat mission in Iraq, no partisan ads, no prorogation, no omnibus bills ( that's a big one in my books ). He obviously won't be perfect but so far so good.

All prime ministers keep most of their promises (typically about 85% of them). Some are good and some are bad. Bringing back the long form census was a good thing (though you are being a bit deceptive here because it never went away, rather, it was no longer a criminal offence to refuse to fill it out).

Some of his other promises have been good as well. Re-opening the coast guard base and veterans affairs office was a good move. One move that isn't so good, is the taking out of combat troops...

Why Trudeau is lost on the Middle East: The many ways the Prime Minister’s position on the fight against ISIS is still shot through with contradictions

Michael Petrou
December 17, 2015



Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has had almost two months since his election win to craft a sensible response to the question of why he’s withdrawing Canada’s CF-18s (and possibly other aircraft) from the combat mission against the so-called Islamic State. He hasn’t come up with one yet, and didn’t again Wednesday when asked by a member of the public at the Maclean’s Town Hall in Ottawa.

You almost want to sympathize with the guy, because his position—by its own logic—is shot through with contradictions.

Islamic State, he says, must be confronted, including militarily, and Canada must play a role in the fight against it. “The question that we have to ask ourselves, as a government and as a country,” he said during the Maclean’s Town Hall, “is how best can we help.”

Trudeau suggested that training local forces to take the fight to Islamic State is the answer. This is a skill, he said, that Canadian troops honed during 10 years in Afghanistan.

Fair enough, although training is hardly the only thing Canadians did over there. But there’s a strange implication here that Canada can’t do both: bomb Islamic State and train local forces. This, of course, is what Canada has been doing for more than a year. Trudeau added: “We know that Western armies engaged in combat is not necessarily the way to solve the challenges in the Middle East.”

This is a popular trope, but in this case it’s irrelevant. No one is suggesting Canada send an infantry battalion to the frontlines in Syria. The question Trudeau was asked is why he’s pulling out the fighter jets.

Maybe Trudeau also thinks airstrikes are ineffective. Evidence on the ground suggests otherwise. Islamic State has been stopped and in places pushed back as a result of coalition warplanes, including Canadian ones, coordinating their airstrikes with local forces on the ground.

But if this is what Trudeau thinks, let him say so clearly. Let him make the case that the air campaign isn’t working. It certainly has not been sufficient, but to argue that it’s not doing much good would require Trudeau to marshal evidence and rhetorical skills he has not yet deployed.

For that matter, if engaging in combat is not a productive way for Western nations to “solve the challenges in the Middle East,” as Trudeau says, why is he continuing with a “training” mission that involves Canadian soldiers calling in airstrikes and, on more than one occasion, shooting at Islamic State fighters on the frontlines?

It also appears that Trudeau will keep Canada’s refuelling and surveillance aircraft in the coalition.

This is noteworthy. During the election campaign, I asked Trudeau’s spokesman, Dan Lauzon, whether, if elected, Trudeau would withdraw those planes as well as the CF-18s.

“A Liberal government would transition away from all aspects of the combat air mission to re-focus our military role on training,” he responded by email.

This seemed to me to be leaving some wiggle room, so I wrote back:

“Thanks, Dan. I’m sorry for being redundant, but I want to be crystal clear. Would the surveillance and refuelling planes be withdrawn? I just want to be sure that your statement isn’t intended to be leaving grey areas in which those planes would continue to operate.”

Lauzon’s complete response: “Hi Michael — All aspects of the combat mission.”

Now, it’s possible Lauzon was being deceptive—not telling a bald-faced lie, a particularly brazen lawyer might argue, but engaging in deception all the same. If that’s the case, Trudeau should probably not make further claims about running an open and transparent government.

But let’s give Trudeau the benefit of the doubt and assume he did in fact intend to pull out the surveillance and refuelling planes, but will now keep them flying because he recognizes they’re doing good work.

The good work they’re doing is combat. Those planes aren’t dropping bombs. But how is finding targets and relaying that information to allied planes who then drop bombs on them any less combat-related than if Canadian pilots were to continue dropping the bombs themselves?

This is where the contradictions in Trudeau’s policy on fighting Islamic State really get messy—because despite panning a combat role for Western militaries in the Middle East, and despite plans to withdraw Canadian warplanes from the fight against Islamic State, he’s also admitted the coalition’s bombing mission is effective. Asked by the BBC last month to clarify that he’s not against bombing Islamic State, Trudeau replied: “Indeed.”

So now we’re left with a hodgepodge of statements and positions from Trudeau that don’t add up to a coherent policy:

– Canada’s armed forces do an extraordinary job of whatever they’re asked to do.

– There are things we can do better than drop bombs.

– Bombing isn’t an effective way for Western nations to solve problems in the Middle East.

– I’m not against bombing Islamic State.

– We will transition from combat to training (even though Canada is clearly capable of doing both).

One final thing: In the Maclean’s Town Hall, Trudeau pointed out that U.S. President Barack Obama hasn’t asked him to keep the CF-18s flying.

Obama hasn’t asked, because he doesn’t want to embarrass Trudeau. The reciprocal courtesy is for Trudeau not to imply the absence of that request means Obama doesn’t want Canada to keep its CF-18s in the air over Iraq and Syria. He does—as do the leaders of Britain, France and other allied countries. If Trudeau isn’t careful, one of them might say so publicly.

[Urbane]

I like the promises he kept so far.
Bringing back long form census, foreign diplomats are now free to speak to the media, the scientists are now free to speak to the media , re-opening the Kitsilano Coast Guard base, moratorium ban on crude oil tankers on the Northern B.C. Coast .. all promises implemented in the first week.
Drop the niqab appeal, reopening of Veterans Affairs Offices, meet with Premiers for the first time since 2009, bring in the refugees.
What I am really looking forward to is the ending of the combat mission in Iraq, no partisan ads, no prorogation, no omnibus bills ( that's a big one in my books ). He obviously won't be perfect but so far so good.

Canadians overwhelmingly were in favour of change and change we got. No, Trudeau won't be perfect and mistakes will be made but so far he's off to a good solid start. As for the Middle East Trudeau understands that we shouldn't walk into a trap. ISIS would like nothing better than for us to stick our nose in further. The US and Brits made a messy Middle East far messier back in 2003 with the Iraq invasion. We are not going to solve the region's problems and it's time that the West butt out and let those countries in the region solve their own problems.

[Glacier]

On one hand I agree that we should butt out, and leave them to fend for themselves, but the European migrant crisis shows that this might not work if we completely ignore the problem. Most of these migrants aren't coming from Syria, and a significant percentage are coming from nations to which the USA has no involvement. Of course, bombing the Libyan government was a huge disaster that has opened up the flood gates from Africa.

In that sense, I do not agree with Obama and others who insist on taking out Assad. I side with Russia and Putin who say that we should not seek to remove governments in the Middle East (or elsewhere) unless we suffer a direct hit from the governments. Instead, we can work to protect minorities in those nations, including the bombing of ISIS, which according to news sources, has allowed 1 million Syrians to return home. In other words, the bombing of ISIS has done 40 times more good than the 1.2 billion dollar bill to bring 25,000 refugees to Canada!

[SmokeOnTheWater]

In that sense, I do not agree with Obama and others who insist on taking out Assad. I side with Russia and Putin who say that we should not seek to remove governments in the Middle East (or elsewhere) unless we suffer a direct hit from the governments. Instead, we can work to protect minorities in those nations, including the bombing of ISIS, which according to news sources, has allowed 1 million Syrians to return home. In other words, the bombing of ISIS has done 40 times as much good as the 1.2 billion dollar bill to bring 25,000 refugees to Canada!

Thanks to Russia ISIS may be history soon but what about the Civil War ?

[The Green Barbarian]

Oh my goodness, he stopped to take pictures with people who support him??!? That is just CRAZY! You sure got us there! I just can't believe in our society where social media is such a big role, he would stop to take a photo with someone. Its just absurd. Didn't you know that if you take a photo of yourself, you aren't able to have values, opinions and be able to make decisions. That's why all the young people of today are so dumb, all those darn selfies!

It was a tongue in cheek comment about Trudeau's penchant for taking selfies with anyone and everyone. I honestly don't care. It was in response to the equally stupid comment about "harper the horrible", which of course, you didn't respond to, but deserved an equally strong rebuttal, given the stupidity behind it.

[flamingfingers]

RWede wrote:

"The only real surprise is just how quickly Liberal promises crumbled"

National Post | December 18, 2015 8:24 AM ET



You forgot to include the link.
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comme ... s-crumbled

And surprise, surprise!!! Guess who wrote it:

Lisa Sarah MacCormack Raitt, PC MP (born May 7, 1968) is a Canadian politician, who is the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the riding of Milton.

[The Green Barbarian]

And surprise, surprise!!! Guess who wrote it:

It wasn't the person in the picture?

[flamingfingers]

GB wrote:

All I can say is, if Harper had ever posed for an idiotic picture like that, every single hypocrite idiot here would be screaming for his resignation.

He did. We didn't.

[Veovis]

He did. We didn't.

I don't want to know where you got that, but it is so full of *bleep* I'm having a good chuckle. Yea friday.

[Ka-El]

In other words, grow the eff up, Justin.

It's a tough time to be a Conservative. Me so sorry for you.

[Bsuds]

It's amazing what can be done with a good photo program and how many get fooled.