April 5, 2011
For me, this election is all about one issue: the economy. Yes, I identify myself as conservative and support the Conservative Party. That said, if Michael Ignatieff had presented a stellar economic plan, I would have given him a look. But, his platform came out and it was like traveling in time to the days of Trudeau. As I said in a previous post, the policies of the Trudeau government are a reason why I'm a conservative-minded individual.
With the economy being top of mind, I was pleased to read today that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says that Canada will lead the G7 in economic growth for the first half of 2011. In brief, Canada's economy will grow by 5.2 per cent in 2011's first quarter and smaller, but still acceptable, growth rates in the next two quarters.
I have to admit, that when the recession hit, I was worried about the massive amount of spending that was done by federal and provincial governments. I tend to be a bit of a deficit hawk. But looking at the statistics, 23,000 projects were funded across Canada which created 480,000 jobs according to government figures. I also strongly support the government's deficit reduction plan, which includes wrapping up the stimulus spending and conducting a review of government operations. If the Conservative budget measures continue to be implemented, we should be out of deficit by 2015. I can accept that.
For me, there is really only one party that gets the economic balancing act that is necessary at this time - and obviously, it's the Conservatives. Today's report from the OECD just firms up the fact that the Harper Conservatives have done - and will continue to do - a good job (and yes, I support corporate tax cuts).
I will admit, I can't argue specifics on the economy.
ReplyDeleteHowever, many people argue that the government under Chrétien and Minister of Finance Martin did wonders for the economy of the time.
What are your thoughts on that?
Yes, they did - but I think people should also look at how they did it.
ReplyDeleteBy slashing transfers and downloading responsibilities (which provinces then downloaded to cities). I think it was a necessary approach, but one that caused a lot of difficulties.
I will side with Brian Mulroney, though, and say that the Chretien Liberals denounced all of his policies (GST, Free Trade are two big examples) but when they came to office, kept them. I think those two policies were also vital to the Chretien/Martin economic agenda.
All that said, I will give credit where credit is due and say that Chretien/Martin did manage the economy very well. I just don't know if the Ignatieff Liberals can do the same.