Not that finance minister, this one. made you look. With all the chest thumping in the last week, most notably Ignatieff, Goodale, and Chevy McCallum over the new deficit figure for the federal government, I thought it might be good to show that old saying "people in glass houses" holds true today. Federal Liberal's took quite some glee in demanding Jim Flaherty's resignation, calling him incompetent, a disgrace, embarrassing due to his inability to accurately pin down deficit numbers.What makes this post such a joy to write is Ignatieff's left-hand man, and McGuinty ass-kisser Warren Kinsella recently posted on his blog "They Are So Done", referencing the now greatly ballooned federal deficit. So for Warren, Iggy, Ralphy, Chevy, and yes, for you Ted, I present the Ontario Liberal governments fiscal record for the past year and a few months. They Are So Done:
March 2008 Ontario Budget forecast- '08-'09 $1.8 Billion Dollar surplus
October 2008 fall economic update forecast- '08-'09 $500 million deficit
March 2009 Ontario budget actual- '08'-09 $3.9 Billion deficit
March 2009 Ontario budget forecast- '09'-'10 forecast- $14.1 billion deficit
June 1st 2009, Deficit update- 2009-2010- $18.5 Billion deficit
So Dalton McGuinty and Dwight Duncan, in the course of just over a year, have made a swing of -$20.3 billion in Ontario's finances. That's quite a feat.
So I challenge any of the finger-pointers named above, to please explain why Dwight Duncan should not be labelled incompetent and either resign or be fired by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
p.s. I don't think any of either the PM, Premier, or either finance minister are incompetent. Just that Liberal's might want to be careful when throwing names out like that.
Update: Joanne nails it with this comment- "But anyone who tries to take a shot at the Feds will have to take one at the Ontario Grits too."
Well done!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that neither Finance Minister is incompetent. Nobody could see this coming and the whole GM thing was pretty much out of the control of either level of Government.
But anyone who tries to take a shot at the Feds will have to take one at the Ontario Grits too.
Grits first. I happened in their backyard, under their watch.
ReplyDeleteEven many of the 'brand dealers' that are being let loose are saying as much, privately.
paulsstuff, you are doing a super job. Very nice!
s/b
ReplyDeleteIt happened....
No, 'I' didn't happen, did I? Ha ha!
I can't touch this.
ReplyDeleteWell done :)
Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteWhere's Ted and the first+last name Lib troll(s)?
For sure that title will reel in some antiCon types,
right Raph.
CLEARLY the deficit in Ontario is the fault of the federal Conservatives.
ReplyDeleteIffy wasn't in QP today,
ReplyDeletemaybe he was going over the CTV Globe poll results, in detail.
In the ROC, the new Lib leader is NOT a hit.
No wonder the media is Iffy/Quebec 24/7, there's nothing to brag about otherwise!!
check it out
http://www.thestrategiccounsel.com/our_news/polls/2009-05-28%20-%20GMCTV%20FINAL.pdf
"CLEARLY the deficit in Ontario is the fault of the federal Conservatives."
ReplyDeleteIts the reverse actually and the Ontario budgets over the last 20 years prove it.
You should take a look at how the Harris government managed to turn the mess that the provincial NDP (under Rae) left them with.
And to that end NAFTA really made a positive difference too.
The Ontario Liberals have been needlessly spending as much as they been taking in even though tax revenue has more than doubled over the last 10 years.
They didn't need to raise taxes.
Much less spend themselves to the brink.
When there is steady job growth income tax revenue grows without needing to be raised. Which in fact leaves room for it to be lowered. Instead they increased program expenditures and government rather then focusing on efficiency. Not that they could ever comprehend the meaning of the word...
They were also continually raising the minimum wage without offsetting the difference through lower business taxes.
You can't keep raising it budget after budget as that makes employers even less likely to want to take on hiring more workers/staff.
raising the minimum wage not only kills jobs by forcing employers to layoff employees it also promotes stagnation amongst the work place.
Notice how those low paying jobs that were meant for inexperienced "over-achieving" teenagers <-(by today's standards) now going (more and more often) to much older people who you'd think would of been able to aim higher than Taco Bell?
Those jobs were meant for building resumes and confidence, not supporting families.
The feds go far deeper i the hole sending tens of billions to Ontario, and the provincial brass STILL need to go deep into hock? Seriously?
ReplyDeleteThey did this with a majority too, so they can't even offload any blame to anyone else for forcing anything on them.
The next ad campaign is writing itself. Liberals in (minority) opposition: force more spending. Liberals in power: do even more spending.
YOu can blame Bob Rae for about 3 billion of Ontario's projected defecit.
ReplyDeleteAs Premier he pandered to the auto unions and passed a law making the TAXPAYER liable for the auto sector pensions!!!!
For GM alone that is about 3 billion in "legacy" costs.
How does THAT feel to the 82% of people who have NO company pensions at all.
"The next ad campaign is writing itself. Liberals in (minority) opposition: force more spending. Liberals in power: do even more spending."
ReplyDeleteNice.
Shouldn't even need to make such ads since it should become obvious enough to any potential voter who can comprehend simple math.
Job growth = higher income tax revenue, without the need for more taxes.
Trade deficit for an exporting country can lead to Job losses.
Job losses = Loss of income tax revenue, plus more people applying to EI. Higher deficit.
You can skip ahead to the Mike Harris NP article for some extra details I left out of the equation.
Federal Liberals: Surplus = Over taxation while stealing money from EI to save face.
Ontario Liberals: Deficits = Bring in needless taxes, over spending over and past the brink even during record revenue intake (no thanks to them).
Wait until the last minute to come up with a budget that lowers taxes rather then doing so when you were warned about things well ahead of time.
^Deficits of loss of the own making and imprudence, NOT from stimulus.
Federal Conservatives: Deficit of Stimulus.
Taking the hit to revenues to bolster up provinces. Making useful spending investments along the way that will actually make the country money. Even when events/opposition parties force them into painful comprises.
They will still be making money off what they spend and doing so without having to raise taxes.
^was NOT responsible for lower/stagnate consumer confidence in the last quarter of 08. or shaky global economy.
Or Ontario's Have-not status:
http://andrewcoyne.com/2008/05/three-card-mcguinty.php
TAKE NOTICE OF THE DATE OF THIS ARTICLE, PRE-CREDIT CRISIS MAYHAM.
Follow that up with this one by Mike Harris himself.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/11/20/mike-harris-ontario-liberals-have-spent-the-province-into-have-not-status.aspx
Read the comments.
Any "Liberal" that tries to say Mac-G inherited a "projected" deficit is as bad of a lair as he was when he would try to convince himself and the legislature that it was "true" with his fake rage. They went about it long enough and kept saying it until it was ingrained into some peoples memories as "truth".
Guess what they charged the Ernie Eves government with? "Spending too much".
It was Eves who was Harris's first finance minister.
Then Flarherty, Then Janet Ecker.
And believe me, they know how to exit a deficit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_of_Finance_(Ontario)