Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacks
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.
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For Chretien, keeping the GST and maintaining free trade, although broken election promises, were the right decisions financially for Canada. Harper on the other hand, cutting GST, while keeping an election promise, was really stupid, and kept us in deficit far longer than we needed to be out of the recession and did little if nothing to help the economy recover.
You can also look to the US for evidence - exhibit A Bill Clinton vs. George W. Bush.