Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunk
I think self-described "fiscal conservatives" of the past 30 yrs can best be summed up by the idiom "penny wise, pound foolish".
No party or ideology has a monopoly on actual sound fiscal management, but history tells us that "liberals" are usually better at it, while "conservatives" are better at claiming they are better at it.
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The only real modern example of this is the Chretien/Martin Liberals, the Trudeau government was the exact opposite of fiscally responsible. Mulroney could have done MUCH better but at least he put us back on track to a viable economic strategy, by the time he left they were running an operational surplus, the high interest rates on the debt were still killing us. When Chretien was voted in he pretty much broke all his promises to kill the GST and Free Trade and gutted transfers to the provinces to get the books back in the black. I always find it amazing that people who consider themselves to be "progressive" idolize Chretien when he governed fiscally from what would be considered today the far right. He slashed funding to social programs, including health care, that crippled the provinces. I actually liked their fiscal policies for the most part, a lot of them were left over from Mulroney. It was their contempt for the West, the blatant corruption, the abuse of power and their theft of tax dollars that I didn't like.