Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Facts Flummox Flaherty

I watched the Senate committee meeting today and was struck by a couple of things really. The sheer combativeness that Flaherty demonstrated was comparable to that of a petulant 5yr old and ironically, (irony that this Conservative government alone seems capable of demonstrating), he in turn treated the Senators as if they were children.

He opened with great fanfare, explaining that the world was in a deep recession and that the Senators may not realise it, but the situation was very serious. He's traveled all around the world you see and has attended many meetings with important people, so he knows, he really does, that it is very, very serious. He then went on to tell them to get on with passing the Budget and he'd better not hear that they went on March break! No sirree! (or what I'm not sure...time out?) This of course after the Chair had indicated that fully intended to pass it, had asked for extra time to sit to get through it and had no intention of going on March break before the work was done.

Suffice it to say, it was all bluster and no substance as is usual from this Minister. Mr. Tough Guy, (read Minister with a perpetual chip on his shoulder) continued his act in parliament's QP and on the evening political shows. He looked and sounded like an ass. He's insisting that everyone hurry up and get things done now, when of course we know no money can flow until April 01st. (The exception to that is the EI provision that could apparently take effect tomorrow if passed.)

All of that to say, the government is for some reason putting on a full court press today and it has me uneasy. Both Flaherty and Harper were out inventing crises, where none exist. That is never a good sign with these guys as it almost always means something else is up.

Any thoughts?

15 comments:

Fillibluster said...

Good point. However bold faced lies do not seem to flummox Jim Flaherty:

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkk_OR6Dqt8&eurl=http://jamesbowie.blogspot.com/2009/03/grit-girl-strikes-again.html

Today at a Senate committee hearing, Mr. Flaherty claimed that “no economist predicted the recession” prior to his tabling of the Harper government’s Fiscal and Economic Update on November 27, 2008.

This is simply untrue:

·TD Report Sept. 8, 2008. “...we believe the global economy is on the brink of a mild recession.”

·Scotiabank Global Economic Research, Oct. 3, 2008. “We are forecasting recessions for both the U.S. and Canada...”

·Bank of Montreal, Oct. 10, 2008. “I suggest that we will see a longer and deeper recession in the U.S. than many are thinking...recession is likely here as well...”

·TD Report Oct. 31, 2008. “We now deem it likely that the Canadian economy will formally tip into a recession at the end of this year.”

Karen said...

We're agreed CAITI.

I have the same vid at the top of my post. Is it not showing up?

Dr Mike said...

This is certainly nothing new at all for Jim.

Many of us remember when he was in the Mike Harris gov`t in Ontario when he wanted to jail the homeless for being less fortunate.

He was not called "take it out to the parking Lot" Jim for nothing as his confrontations with other MPs were legendary---Just ask John Tory.

Income trust investors got an up close & personal look at his "ass-hole-edness" on Halloween 2006 & that we will never forget.

Does that mean that the Senators got off lucky??

Dr Mike.

Karen said...

Dr Mike, I'm with you.

What disturbs me though is I'm sure something is up. They rarely pull this kind of in unison stuff, especially with this level of vitriol and fabrication unless something else is coming.

penlan said...

The Senate wanted to split the Budget bill so that they could pass the EI part immediately & get it going. Harper & Flaherty said "NO". Thus defeating their own supposed purpose. Jimmy said it was "imperative" to get it out now. If it was that important to them they would have split the bill.

As you said, knb, no monies can flow until April 1st. So why all the hype about getting the whole thing passed immediately?

Maybe to spin, later, that the Libs did what they demanded as they are afraid of the Cons, of a possible election or something similar. Also, the general public will believe all the lies being said by Harper & Flaherty about the Libs slowing down the process of getting the money "out there". Remember that the public only pays attention to the headlines, sound bites & it's the Con ones they hear 1st then tune out the rest from the opposition as it comes out quite a bit later in a newscast, etc.

The media is still not confronting Harper et al. Did you see Newman back off from Flaherty yesterday on "Politics"? Gah!

Dr Mike said...

penlan

I saw the Newman interview & I nearly barfed.

He had Flaherty cornered & did a Roberto Duran---disappointing as hell--I expected more from Newman.

Dr Mike.

Karen said...

penlan and Dr. Mike, I did see that and thought he was going to confront him then...total back down.

I really do not get the media's fear and/or reluctance to call them on reality at this point. I had hoped we were passed that, but apparently not.

penlan said...

I can't figure out why the media/reporters are so afraid. Yes, I've heard "job security" bantered about but I don't really think that is the reason. If ALL msm confronted them there would be nothing to fear. So, what are they really afraid of?

Dr Mike said...

They must remember Jim from Ontario as he does have one nasty vindictive streak--as the old saying goes "don`t mess with Jim" I guess.

Sad but true.

Wouldn`t it be refreshing to see the media stand-up to these guys & actually make them accountable not like the faux-accountability Barky Baird is always spouting.

I had been a Conservative supporter for over 30 years until Harper got in the way.

As I said before , sad but true.

Dr Mike.

Big Winnie said...

I watched Power Play yesterday and a few things that were said caught my attention:

Here is the link to the Program:
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/power-play/tuesday-march-10/#clip148419

1) Starting at around the 5:10 mark, the budget is discussed. The Cons attempt to make the Libs look like they are holding up the Budget when in actual fact, the Cons aren't introducing Legislation until Mar 26th!

2) At around the 7:45 mark, Goodale, while responding to the Cons comments, mkaes it quite clear that it was the Con Senators who established the timetable for the Budget, not the Liberals.

3) LIbby Davis (NDP) then goes on to mention that this was the quickest budget approval over the last 10 budgets.

4) She then asks about the $3B+ that's still to be spent and the The Parl Secretary claims that a large $700M project in Toronto can't move forward becasue the shovels haven't hit the ground and no invoices have been received.

Based on what I heard yesterday, the $3B is going to go nowhere, Flaherty will continue to blame the Liberals for inaction on the budget and Canadians will continue to suffer.

This government is a joke

Karen said...

Big Winnie...the new 3billion or the unspent 3.8billion?

Joke? Oh yeah...a really bad one.

penlan said...

Just saw Flaherty on Newsworld doing a scrum a little while ago. Ratcheting up even more that the Liberals are "delaying" the budget & that THEY will be to blame for all those on EI whose benefits don't get extended. Along with a whole bunch of other lies.

Also, EI is backdated so that once the budget is passed no one will lose the 5 week extension, btw. He doesn't mention that either.

What's happening here is that the Cons are going to say that it's all the Libs fault, as the recession gets worse & more people lose their jobs, because they didn't pass the budget sooner. I think he even said that at some point, not positive though. In plain words, again, the worsening recession is all the liberals fault cause they couldn't get the money out sooner. And I think a lot of it has to do with that $3 Billion they don't want any accountability for. Makes me wonder what they have in mind for that money. I'm sure something highly partisan.

It's sickening what's going on here.

Karen said...

A scrum on a Wednesday morning? Hmm, who was there asking the questions do you know?

penlan said...

He made a statement then answered questions. Sorry, I don't know who was there asking them.

Big Winnie said...

KNB: Actually both (if the other money is approved) :)