Lest anyone accuse me of unfairness and one-sidedness, today's look into the pit of despair that is Canadian politics will focus on the Liberal Party of Canada. Before I go any further I should explain something to readers from beyond Canada's borders who may not be familiar with our political parties.
While the Conservative Party of Canada can be counted on to be conservative, the Liberals are a bizarre mixture of conservative and liberal policies. While it's tempting to say that the Liberals are fiscally conservative and socially liberal it really is impossible to be both at the same time.
Here are some important things to keep in mind over the course of the next few days as the Liberals gather to choose Paul Martin's replacement as leader of the federal Liberal party. I'm sure that over the next few days we will be hearing all about how the Conservative Party of Canada is destroying the social fabric of Canada. I'd advise adjusting the flavour of those remarks with as many grains of salt that you deem necessary considering the Liberal party's own history.
How can you claim to be a liberal socially when you gleefully cut spending on social programs? You can win the hearts and minds of the financial district in only one way and that's balancing the books. Since they don't want you taxing their clients, those wealthy enough to use the investment brokers and bankers you're trying to please, in order to increase revenues, you cut spending.
The majority of money that our federal government spends is on social programming so we all know where a fiscal conservative government is going to make its cuts. Which is exactly what the Liberals did for the first ten or so years of their twelve-year reign. Through the simple expedient of not keeping up with inflation they were able to decrease spending across the board, but of course that wasn't nearly enough for those thirsting to see their profits rise.
Article comments
1 - alesssandro nicolo
The Liberals are a mess.