Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Stephen Harper Has Canada's Economy Walking a Tightrope

It's amazing what comes down the live feed at CAPP, and an article from October 2008 about Harper playing fast and loose with our economic future, is worth revisiting.

Controlled messages suggest a party that is dedicated to guiding us through the recession, but behind the scenes a very different picture emerges.

Andrew Coyne at MacLeans thought he had it all figured out, when Maxime Bernier gave a speech about stalling economic growth.

But reducing government revenue is only part of it. Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty needed to spend like drunken sailors and make sure that this country would no longer be in a position to look after it's citizens.

Flaherty started with the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, making the Canadian taxpayer the largest lender of sub-prime mortgages in the world.

According to Ellen Gould in that October, 2008 article in Tyee:

Listen to Stephen Harper and you might think Canada plays to our national stereotype when it comes to the world of finance. We might be boring but at least we don't stand for the risky policies adopted by our American cousins ... .The thing is, the Harper government is responsible for pushing the envelope on deregulation both domestically and internationally despite cautionary events in the U.S. clearly indicating what could go wrong.

... It makes one wonder. Just how bad would things have to get before the Harper government realizes further liberalizing the world's financial markets is not such a great idea?

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