Don’t you just love how a party’s election promises suddenly disappear once they gain power? We have already seen that in just over a month with the Liberals- remember their limited deficits that they were going to run?
So far we have seen the Trudeau gang throw our money around as though it came from some bottomless vault. Throw a few billion here, a few 100 million there, all in the name of appearing to be bold and in charge and of course it makes for good photo ops too. And that is the problem with election promises that are supposed to be accurately costed out for voters to peruse.
Clearly the Liberals had no idea as to the total cost to bring 25,000 refugees into Canada. Mark my words the request for $280.2 million extra asked for yesterday in the Supplemental Estimates will just be the thin tip of the wedge. Most likely 25,000 was a number picked out of the air because it would make them look good and Harper bad. Such is the nature of many election war room decisions. I wonder if the PM and his ministers will be lined up on the tarmac when the first plane arrives? That makes for a good photo op too.
Trudeau clearly had no idea of the total costs. Wait until the municipalities, provinces, departments and aid groups have finished sending in their bills. They also had no idea of the complexities of bringing that number of refugees to Canada… but it made for a good sound bite in a closely fought election. While they have only recently smartened up and admitted they could not bring that many refugees in this year, it does raise the question: just when did they first learn that it was impossible? What did their advisors or experts tell them during the campaign? Did they know then and sit on it until elected? Did they find out at their very first briefing session after being sworn in and bluffed their way until a few days ago when they realized the game was up?
Of course the latest one is that their tax on the rich, to give the middle class a break (which was borrowed from a failed policy that Bill Clinton introduced in the USA), is clearly not going to be revenue neutral as promised during the election, but instead it will leave them about $1.2 billion short. So when did they first know that one?
Add in the $3 billion or so they committed to climate change (not a penny of it to be spent in Canada) and you have to wonder how this spending, plus their promised stimulus spending is going to be accounted for. How are they going to pay for all of those election promises?
What are their options?
- Go far deeper into debt than promised
- Raise taxes
- Cut program spending in other areas
- Make cuts to the bureaucracy
- Ignore their promises
We simply don’t know because they haven’t shown us a budget and with that the details of how much they will soak the taxpayer for or leave for future governments to try and pay down the deficit.
Give us a budget and rein in the spending spree until taxpayers can see the numbers and the real costs to them.
Poor Keith! He seems to be missing his pal, Harper already.
Furtz I don’t think they ever were BFF’s.
Six weeks into Trudeau’s majority mandate, and he’s acting on almost all of his campaign promises already. Of course, some will go better than others, but he is doing what he said he’d do if elected. Beardsley should maybe take time-out, and reassess the situation in a few months.
Beardsley’s first post since October 25th and the best he can come up with are the sour gripes of a bean counter who hopes for the worst. Sad.
From The Huffington Post.. Not exactly an impartial political pundit.
“Mr. Beardsley spent over 30 years in active Canadian politics from the municipal to the federal level. During that period, he was a community activist, an elected municipal councillor, and senior advisor to five Conservative Party leaders and to the present Canadian prime minister.(A little out of date.)
He has served as the political Chief of Staff in three departments; Immigration, Citizenship Immigration and Multiculturalism, and Secretary of State.
Mr. Beardsley was also the head of the Conservative Party’s research arm, where he created one of the most effective rapid response teams in Canadian politics. He has been a key player in several political war rooms and has taken part in over a dozen election campaigns.
As well Mr. Beardsley was a senior advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, serving as his Deputy Chief of Staff for Issues Management.”
Furtz you forgot to mention he was a part of Canada’s greatest political attack ad vs Stephane Dion.
Was that the puffin-poop ad? If so, Beardsley is a genius and a class act for sure. I like that Dion is now our Minister of Foreign Affairs these days.
In the meantime, Beardsley should get over the fact that his Harper-Cons got the boot.
Huffington, Puffington–the Harper house of straw was blown down on October 19th, and good riddance. May a forward-looking conservative party of civility, dignity and respect rise in its place.