Quote:
Originally Posted by Slava
This is exactly where I have a departure from sympathy for Harper. He knew what he was doing in trying to cut the funding for his opponents. He knew full well that these subsidies were the lifeline of the other parties. I think that this was a calculated gamble on his part.
He has pushed for confidence votes time and time again through his past government and this was no different. He figured that because the Liberals are in the midst of a leadership campaign and the appetite for another election is not there, that he could be safe in trying to crush his opponents fiscally. They called his bluff...and he left himself exposed by not acting faster on a stimulus package.
As I stated before I don't know that the coalition is a good thing at all (and personally I have doubts as to whether it comes to fruition). But Harper knew what he was doing here. He was acting as though he had a majority and quite simply he does not.
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He knew he neede to cut money from somewhere, and figured the liberals little cash grab was a good place to start. It amazes me how little people are bothered by the liberals attempt to take money they aren't entitled to. Yes, the Liberals need that money since they don't get financial support from those who supposedly support them and they can no longer flat out steal it, but that doesn't mean the idea was a good one. Unlike the liberals and NDP, he acted according to the spirit of the process. He came up with an idea, it didn't work out and he backed off.
It's actually kind of sad that this is the issue that the liberals chose to use to 'justify' the power grab that evidence from the leaked tapes suggests was already underway. Sadder still that their supporters actually think that this is a good justification.