Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowboy89
No real party in this election can actually claim the podium of being actually fiscally prudent. Those who put a lot of credence in the 'Infrastruture spending' arguement have a romaticized view of the job the government does at being able to correctly identify and execute on which projects should go ahead for the good of the Province. Also laughable is the thought that the government can be pro-active on the economy and enact stimulus spending ahead of slowdowns, and effectively pull back on stimulus through recovery phases. (I'm not arguing that Kaynesian economics is an utter failure, it's actually effective in stabalizing an economic panic, it's just that the institution of government lacks the dicipline to withdraw spending in the recovery phase). It's a formula to create layers of waste on the alter of good intentions.
The Tories have just been blindly building stuff for the past 5 years. Perfect example is the South Hospital. They have bungled the execution of it's construction with out of control cost overruns and delays, and now that it's opening is on the horizon it's well known to AHS staff that they have no means of properly staffing it due to administrative errors taken over the last 5 years. Turns out that opening a bed at the South hospital actually would take away a bed at an existing facility. In the end all that's been achieved is capital spent inefficiently. Just because Allison Redford is clearly smarter than Ed Stelmach doesn't mean this approach will change.
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I agree that Keynesian economics is often poorly executed, but I don't think that means we shouldn't try. Especially when fiscal conservatism carries its own problems.
Perfect example is the South Hospital (and moreso, the Foothills/Rockyview Hospital expansions). Blowing up Calgary General and selling Holy Cross was supposed to be efficient use of resources. Instead, we've had to build capacity to make up for what the "fiscal conservatives" took away.