For almost four years now Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his erstwhile sidekick Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have been touring the globe touting Canada as a model of fiscal responsiblity.
From G8 conference to G20 conference to Davos the message has been the same; Canada avoided the 2008 collapse because we Conservatives are the smartest people in the world, and the people of Canada just had the good fortune of having us in the driver's seat when the road got bumpy.
Suddenly that's over.
Canadians need to tighten their belts, yessiree!
Spending on pensions? Unsustainable.
Spending on health care? Unsustainable.
Post-secondary education? Unsustainable!
Out with the good news and in with the bad.
I think what happened is this; while it was great to strut and preen and brag about how great they were, the Harper gang couldn't help but notice how some of their fellow-travellers in Europe have been able to screw the bejeezus out of their working people.
How about a twenty-five percent reduction in the minimum wage?
How about slashing pensions?
How about firing hundreds of thousands of public employees?
How about doubling or tripling university tuition?
It's hard to sell any of these great ideas when you're running all over the world boasting about the happy state of your national finances.
So hard times are here. Get ready to tighten your belt.
No comments:
Post a Comment