04.05.2013 11:49 AM

In the Sun (and not by me!): Chretien-Martin era Libs were good economic managers

To wit:

From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, Pierre Elliott Trudeau and his successor John Turner increased public spending as a share of GDP by 40%, while the more recent Liberal governments of Jean Chretien and Paul Martin decreased it by 32%.

The message is clear: The idea that the left is more spendthrift and the right is more thrifty just does not stand up to scrutiny. A major study from the early 1990s looking at 15 industrialized countries over a period of 28 years draws a similar conclusion.

Wow, eh? I’m tweeting this!

9 Comments

  1. !o! says:

    Wow. The NP calling them jerks, and now this. Dogs and cats living together and such…

  2. Steven says:

    The LPC has been negligent in not defining the HarperCons as financial incompetents and frauds.

    In the Fall 2008 Federal Election, HarperCon candidates ( e.g. Lois Brown -Newmarket-Aurora on October 11, 2008 ) told this voter that: the GST reduction was justified, there was no looming financial crisis, and there would be no deficit under a Harper Government.

    Too bad there are no Consumer Protection laws for this kind of fraudulent representation and “defective product” liability.

  3. Brad says:

    @Steven, I agree 100%.

    Harper is creating a mess by trying to by the outcome of the next election.

  4. Bruce A says:

    “The idea that the left is more spendthrift and the right is more thrifty just does not stand up to scrutiny.”

    Congratulations to Suns News for discovering the earth isn’t flat. Better late than never. Though this is like waking up late on a sinking ship.

    There’s still the question of why the media, generally speaking, see themselves as ‘economists’ and why they insist on peddling the notion that Conservatives can handle money, when anyone with a passing interest in the subject would know that isn’t true.

    If Harper and Flaherty hadn’t insisted on monkeying with the levers and pushing the buttons, so to speak, they wouldn’t have problems they clearly can’t solve. The notion that change equals progress or improvement is a lot of rot. Changing something that has proven successful only does one thing to Conservatives–they can’t admit they were wrong about anything.

    As for right wing media, well, try looking at evidence. If it’s not too much of a bother.

  5. MCBellecourt says:

    That is a shocker coming out of the Sun. Better late than never, as others say.

    I find this rather disturbing–a columnist from canada.com seems to think we should ‘relax and don’t worry about it’, but I haven’t forgotten about what happened to income trusts.

    Makes you wonder what else is hidden away in that last budget, because this little bit was rather obscure. The more time goes on, I don’t think anyone’s money is safe as long as Harper’s in power. Our tax dollars sure as hell haven’t been.

    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/04/04/jim_flahertys_cyprusstyle_bank_rescue_plan_walkom.html

  6. Bill Case says:

    The Harper Conservatives when first elected were on shaky ground and the only thing they could do is reduce taxes like the GST, all in order to buy Canadian’s votes. Instead, Canadians elected another minority government and that forced the Conservatives to continue buying votes with the voter’s money. Then the global recession hit.

    Chretien was racking up majorities so he felt confident in cutting spending and he also downloaded costs on to the Provinces which Liberal supporters prefer to ignore in their howling. And then there was the GST and NAFTA windfalls courtesy of Mulroney!

    In politics, timing is everything, and deconstructing history is foolish!

  7. Tim says:

    It’s all very true. The NDP in Saskatchewan was the first province to balance a budget in the 90’s, after Grant’s conservatives nearly bankrupt the province

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