Jim Flaherty and His Twenty Minutes of Claptrap

Jim Flaherty was supposed to deliver a speech to the Canadian Club on the economy. Instead he turned it into twenty minutes of partisan claptrap. But no one clapped. Instead they sat in stony silence.

Ralph Goodale, deputy leader of the Liberal Party, described Mr. Flaherty’s speech as being a rather “unusual performance” that turned into a bitter and partisan rant. “The most crucial asset that a Minister of Finance has is his reputation for personal credibility,” said Mr. Goodale, a former finance minister. “And that’s why that ludicrous performance yesterday was so utterly counterproductive and quite frankly it was downright stupid. It was pathetic to see a minister of finance reduced to such a degrading spectacle.”

... Repeating a line that is increasingly being used by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he told a Canadian Club luncheon audience Tuesday that the next election campaign will present voters with a choice between a majority Conservative government and a de-facto coalition government. “Under an Ignatieff-NDP-Bloc Québécois government, nothing would be safe nothing would be safe. ... No part of our economy would be spared. No taxpayer would avoid the hit,” he said. And later, when discussing the economic recovery following the recent global downturn, he invoked the image of pirates to describe the opposition. “We can see the harbour lights,” Mr. Flaherty said. “And that’s just when a would-be captain and his ragtag crew are trying to storm the bridge. If they seize the wheel, ladies and gentlemen, they’ll have us on the rocks.” Mr. Goodale said the text of the speech could not have been written by any serious person in the Department of Finance.

If he wasn't such a jackass I'd actually feel sorry for him. This party has clearly run out of ideas.

But Harper stood by his finance minister and repeated Flaherty's warnings about the grave risks if the Liberals take power. "The leader of the opposition cannot pretend to be concerned about those things when the real effect of the things he proposes are deep and high tax increases on the Canadian economy," said Harper. Flaherty's speech reflected Harper's strategy to persuade voters they face a choice in the next campaign: a "stable" Conservative majority, or an opposition "coalition." Those parties deny the allegation.

Goodale said Flaherty's speech gives the Liberals a "golden opportunity." "While they deal with that kind of partisan, trivial, pathetic nonsense, we'll be talking about what really matters to average middle-income Canadian families. We'll be on track with what Canadians want while these guys just swirl down their cesspool of political games."

A coalition would not have spent 130 million dollars on ads to promote this narcissist. They would not have pork barrelled. They would not have been more concerned with signs than jobs. Get over yourself Harper.