Quote:
Originally Posted by Ark2
The last Liberal governments were fiscally conservative because they had a majority. Even Martin himself said that he couldn't possibly have as fiscally conservative as he was as finance minister had he been a part of a minority government. The CPC really didn't have any choice but to be less fiscally conservative because if proposed cuts, the opposition parties could defeat their bills and use it as an example of the Conservatives "hurting Canada". On the other hand, if you spend more and try to give something to everyone, it discourages the opposition from voting against them as then the CPC can turn to the public and say "we tried to give you X, but they defeated it." You can't compare a majority government with a minority government.
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The point is that they had a majority and total free reign, and could have spent like wildmen and yet they chose fiscal conservatism - I agree the cons spent more than they would have in a majority (although the nauseating "Economic Action Plan" was all them and 90% wasteful) and in a majority situation their policies fiscally are very similar. Yet in some places conventional wisdom is that one is the root of all evil, which is nonsense.