I hope you fiscal conservatives are happy

I heard it over and over leading up to this fall’s federal election. People were voting Conservative because of the economy. The Conservatives somehow installed more confidence in the voters, and were for some reason seen as being better at economics than the Liberals. The Conservatives of course did their part in this, with expensive tv ads that portrayed the Liberals as being bad for Canadian economics.

Today the truth came out. Despite inheriting record surpluses from the Liberals, according to the Budget Officer’s report it appears that Canada will run a deficit this year. Worse, although people may think this is due to the global financial situation, the report says “the weak fiscal performance to date is largely attributable to previous policy decisions as opposed to weakened economic conditions.” In other words, the Conservatives screwed it up.

So we have a government that was partially elected on the basis that they’re good at economics. I have absolutely no idea why that stuck with people, considering the performance of the previous Conservative government. Worse, this government was supposed to be closer to the grassroots Canadian and not be so bureaucratic. For that, we are treated to an extra 6 cabinet members appointed by the Prime Minister. That’s a whopping 1 out of every 5 Conservative MPs are now cabinet ministers, and each cabinet minister gets an extra $75,000 in salary.

I really hate the hypocracy of the Conservatives. I still remember very well the English language debate where Harper, while speaking into his glass of water in a cowardly fasion, told Canadians that he wouldn’t run a deficit. Considering that his policies played a part in the upcoming deficit at a time when he should have realized the surplus was a safety net for the upcoming financial troubles, I would say that Harper has some explaining to do.

For those of you that don’t like deficits, next time talk with your votes. GST cuts don’t help the economy.