Wednesday, January 28, 2009

What Choice Did They Have?

There's been a river of drivel flowing out of Iggy supporters and Iggy apologists today since he folded and embraced the Harper stimulus budget.

Here's one some joker threw my way. A majority of Canadians and a majority of Liberals support this budget. Okay, I tracked down one poll showing 51% of Canadians surveyed supported the budget. But wait, what choice did they have? Was anybody offering an alternative? No, of course not. An opposition party might have done that but the existing Liberal opposition came with empty hands, said "me too," and cinched the deal.

There being no other proposals on the table and the crest of the recession wave nearing shore, what's a girl to do but take what she can get?

But there are Iggy supporters who say that the budget is okay because Harper folded to Iggy's demands. Ignatieff actually made Harper produce this budget. Really? Why then is it so godawful?

What I like best, though, is how these same Iggy supporters howl like vampires caught in the noonday sun when anyone suggests this is a Harper-Ignatieff budget. Well it must be if Iggy forced Harper's hand. Geez, that sounds like a coalition government in everything but name.

Well if these Iggy supporters are right, that speaks volumes. The total lack of vision in this illegitimate creature is a collaborative effort. Neither of these, er, leaders has any vision. That's why this budget isn't driven by federal recovery spending programmes. It's just the feds throwing money around for others to figure out how it will be spent.

This country may be in for a fiscal thumping worse than any seen in generations. Jobs will be lost, homes too. Families will fall apart. Yet so many of my fellow Liberals are focused instead on who's ahead on points as though this was a political football game. Oh, Iggy's setting Steve up so he can pounce on him when the moment is ripe. Of for Christ's sake, the time is now, maybe not for Harper or for Iggy or for those who cheer on this game - but for a lot of your fellow Canadians, the time is definitely now.

Christ what a sad pair. But a pair nonetheless.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not an Iggy supporter or a Liberal supporter. But I don't think there was an option for the Liberals to produce an alternative budget.

Because Canadians ain't listening. Most want money spent and they want it spent yesterday. They don't want anymore games and political oneupmanship of who's plan is better.

They don't care who does it, or what the details are, they just want it done.

Beijing York said...

Something done is certainly true but can you call Harper's budget anything but incompetent. The author of this absurdity is Flaherty who plunged Ontario into a major crisis. McGuinty is barely treading water and Ontario is now officially a "have not" province. Part of that outcome lies solely at the feet of the Harris government.

As for the greedy gut Canadians who are thinking of themselves first and foremost (and who I think are thankfully a minority), they are crying a river that the Conservatives are bringing on a deficit and not doing enough for their taxes.

Anonymous said...

If you were asking me, I do think the budget is incompetent. I also think that the majority of Canadians aren't paying close attention to the details.

I also hope I'm wrong on both counts.

Oemissions said...

Seems to me that that Ignatieff and company have done a fine job of alienating their allies.
Rae says they are watching like hawks and holding a short leash.
For those of us who saw a great light with the Coalition, it is all very confusing and divisive.
Ballgames. And Duceppe had , in my opinion, more balls today than either Layton or Ignatieff.
I have been directing people to : constitutionacts.blogspot.com: House Rules.
I happened upon it last night. A unified statement from several prominent deans and professors of law and political science.
Posted by a student, I think, from Sherbrooke,Quebec.
It should have been featured in the media.