Yodabunny wrote:
Yeah, Trudeau started out strong but fizzled pretty quickly when people realized there was no substance there. I think Harper and the conservatives have done a decent job for the most part but they're getting a bit too far right now for my liking. I don't want to be the USA.
Do you actually follow Canadian politics.
1) Surpluses become deficits.
End of years of surpluses your first year on the job. Since then Canada is at its highest debt level since post WW2.
More provinces in debt thanks to downloading government costs instead of tweaking how it pays for them.
Trade surplus of 8B now a deficit of 2B (10B swing in a decade)
2) Employment/Type
Manufacturing is dead in Canada service industry is following suit.
Only real employable markets are oil/gas/mining
Unemployment at all time highs in parts of nation
Ontario's largest employment crisis in History from lost manufacturing
Temprorary work is on the rise, large foreign competition in market place.
3) Living Value
Cost of living out paces growth of wealth
Canadian purchasing power is now lower around the world
Housing values in many communities are on the decline
There are doctor shortages
150 lakes and rivers no longer under environmental protection
Roads and Rails are deteriorating
4) Defense
Signed up for planes and ships have neither, with a timetable for neither at the present. Despite putting money down.
Reduction in size and scope of our military
5) International Image
Deteriorating due to stances on climate change
Deteriorating due to opposition on Palestinian Statehood and calls to have Israel inspected for arms
Deteriorating due to being caught spying on friends and allys
Deteriorating due to grandstanding human rights when we are imperfect at home.
Aboriginal crisis has been called a humanitarian issue by UN
6) Governmental
Guilty of election fraud
Held in contempt of parliament
Senate Scandal
3.1B missing (seriously no one knows where it went despite it being spent)
29B in backed Taxes that Government won't allow CRA to chase (over 80% in corporate back taxes)
Unethical prorogue of Parliament
For positives this is what we have.
1) 2008 did not kick us as hard as the US or EU, but this is simply Chretien's regulations in the 90's working as intended, and can hardly be attributed to Harper well I guess we could say thanks for not getting rid of them.
2) Potentially strong future with the EU trade deal, but also potentially weaker.
As for Trudeau, he has taken his flair as far as he can. His poll rise is representative of fringe voters, it displays the people who kinda like the Conservatives because they are not the NDP are interested, and that the people who kinda like the NDP but hate conservatives are interested. Essentially he has brought the liberals back to the % of interest that they had prior to last election when they got blown out of the water (mostly by the NDP).
The problem going forward is that Harpers Conservatives are not traditional conservatives, they are more closely associated to the old Reform party, which coincidentally Harper and most of the higher ups in CPC learned the trade of politics, under Preston Manning, which any Conservative would tell you was a tab nutters. Heck Harper even quit the Reform party because they were becoming to much like the PC party, who were further left than the Reform Party. In 2001 the Reform Party ran as the Canadian Alliance, and killed the PC party, 2 years later Harper was back and won the right to lead the rebranded Reform party, which was merged with the remmnents of the PC's and became the CPC.
Ironically the Liberals are now the most traditionally conservative in Canada. Ain't that a mind @#%^. What Harper has given us is this.
On average we have a bit more money, but it is worth a bunch less at home and around the world.
(I will be voting Liberal fyi, not because of Trudeau, but because Harper and his phony Conservative party have been bad for Canada as a whole)
Edited, Oct 23rd 2013 10:14pm by rdmcandie