The arrogance of the Harper Conservatives knows no bounds. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered a budget with such a thin veneer of civility yesterday that he could do nothing more afterwards but say wait until next year. This 2014 budget was cynical, shallow, untruthful and an insult to the Canadian people.
If you want whistles, bells and hope with your budget, you have to wait until the budget running up to the election next year. And what was really disgusting was that Flaherty did not bother to sugar-coat the lies.
It was obvious to anyone who can add two plus two successfully that there is no deficit in current government accounts. Flaherty admitted that but said the claim of a surplus will be more substantial just before the election. There are too many promises connected to that surplus to waste them a full year before the election.
But the tissue of lies of the current budget says much about the lack of morals of Stephen Harper and his ideologues.
A $2 billion allocation for aboriginal schooling would sound good if it was not being held back for two years and then to be paid out over the following three years. Remember, this is the government that killed the $5 billion Kelowna Accord that would have been a substantial boost for aboriginals.
It is both fascinating and frightening to see how this government has managed to transfer government debt. The figures are available for all to see. As the government lowers its debt in recent years, the amount of personal debt owed by Canadians is growing. It means that people are going deeper in debt because of higher unemployment and job-seekers who have given up.
In 2015 Canadians will have to have a national awards program for cynicism. Who will be Cynic of the Year? Stephen Harper won that award in the 2008 election as the world’s economy was crashing. He refused to admit it and enough Canadians kept him in office for another try in 2011.
Flaherty’s budget had no answers for our high jobless rate, for our country’s economic doldrums, for the imbalance of investment in tar sands that most civilized countries do not want and the lack of investment in jobs for other provinces.
With Harper, it is all about getting elected. Give him four more years in office and he will change Canada forever. And you will not like the country he wants to create.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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