Conservatives Given a 'D' in Accountability...

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Yeah, remember when Harper promised in the last election how a Conservative government would never tax income trusts. That was great.

Look, there it is! Printed on page 32 of the Conservative Party's 2006 election platform document:

http://www.conservative.ca/media/20060113-Platform.pdf



Whoops!

But surely Conservatives here in Calgary, right in the heartland of CPC territory would forgive that little fib, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3tGU0yRdQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_lb5eOrZDI

Yes it was wrong, no one would suggest otherwise, but they have kept almost all of there other promises. Chalk it up to political inexperience or whatever, it was a promises that they shouldn't have made and they would take it back if they could but it had to be done.

But lets focus on one promise not kept instead of dozens that were.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

But lets focus on one promise not kept instead of dozens that were.

Hey, it's fashionable around here to still bash the Liberals for promising to abolish the GST back in 1993!

The fact is, no party keeps all their campaign promises (for a variety of reasons), but the CPC specifically campaigned on the issues of honesty and accountability. Now here they are receiving a "D" grade in that category, and the Conservative homers on this site aren't holding them to the same standard to which they held the previous Liberal government.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

No, but I have voted for Jack's party 4 of the last 5 times out.

You are an insult to all that is Albertan.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Hey, it's fashionable around here to still bash the Liberals for promising to abolish the GST back in 1993!

I haven't seen that....but I don't read every thread.

The fact is, no party keeps all their campaign promises (for a variety of reasons), but the CPC specifically campaigned on the issues of honesty and accountability

.

I agree, and it could be argued that although they did not keep their promise of not taxing the trusts, they proceeded with a process that would make taxation accountable for the tax payers.

[guzzy]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Yeah, remember when Harper promised in the last election how a Conservative government would never tax income trusts. That was great.

Look, there it is! Printed on page 32 of the Conservative Party's 2006 election platform document:

http://www.conservative.ca/media/20060113-Platform.pdf



Whoops!

But surely Conservatives here in Calgary, right in the heartland of CPC territory would forgive that little fib, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3tGU0yRdQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_lb5eOrZDI

Harper admitted he was wrong in the trusts promise. He had no choice. If you knew anything of the trusts you know it is border line money laundering. They are illegal in the states for a reason. The gov't was losing money is massive amounts so they had no choice. I support that decision. I don't quite see what your point was there. He admitted he made a mistake when promising not to abolish them. The liberals still dont admit guilt about the Adscam issue. Again, they may not be honest but they are a hell of a lot more honest then their predecessor.

[Devils'Advocate]

Why do we keep getting off track and diverted?

I'm interested in hearing how people defend a party that ran on a platform of "ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT" getting a D in "ACCOUNTABILITY" from an independent watchdog?

Friends of the Conservative party are getting the plum jobs in Ottawa. Even though getting rid of patronage appointments was in their 54 part plan to clean up Ottawa. Big business lobbyists are still greasing the palms of the MPs even though the Conservatives promised to restrict 3rd party influence on politics. And the promise to protect whistleblowers? If you find that an MP is doing something unethical and you go to the media, then the whistleblowers protection does NOT apply. Our whistleblowers legislation is a piece of crap and needs to be re-written.

If anything, the Conservatives came in with a lot of good ideas and I can see why Democracy Watch put them #1 in terms of having the best ideas for an accountable government. But now that they are in power and getting the big $$$$$$$ from the lobbyists, the morals and ethics get thrown out the door.

[kipperfan]

Originally Posted by guzzy

Again, they may not be honest but they are a hell of a lot more honest then their predecessor.

And that pretty much sums it up. Good post Guzzy, you're bang on.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Yeah, remember when Harper promised in the last election how a Conservative government would never tax income trusts. That was great.

Look, there it is! Printed on page 32 of the Conservative Party's 2006 election platform document:

http://www.conservative.ca/media/20060113-Platform.pdf



Whoops!

But surely Conservatives here in Calgary, right in the heartland of CPC territory would forgive that little fib, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3tGU0yRdQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_lb5eOrZDI

This aside, I see a whole lot of huffing and puffing in the article and not a whole lot of evidence/examples.

I also think that the majority of people (yourself included) actually agree with Harper's decision to stop the tax sheltering in income trusts.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by guzzy

Harper admitted he was wrong in the trusts promise. He had no choice. If you knew anything of the trusts you know it is border line money laundering. They are illegal in the states for a reason. The gov't was losing money is massive amounts so they had no choice. I support that decision. I don't quite see what your point was there. He admitted he made a mistake when promising not to abolish them. The liberals still dont admit guilt about the Adscam issue. Again, they may not be honest but they are a hell of a lot more honest then their predecessor.

Is that something like being a little bit pregnant?

You are either honest or you're not. "Canada's New Government" is just like the rest of them. Not honest or accountable, and plenty willing to pass out favours to their pals. Surprise surprise.

Y'all can (and will) spin it any way you want, but it's pretty clear. They made promises and in the end broke them.

[kipperfan]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Is that something like being a little bit pregnant?

You are either honest or you're not. "Canada's New Government" is just like the rest of them. Not honest or accountable, and plenty willing to pass out favours to their pals. Surprise surprise.

Y'all can (and will) spin it any way you want, but it's pretty clear. They made promises and in the end broke them.

Sure, but when we havent had a single government within recent memory(if ever) that hasnt broken promises is that really a fair measuring stick?

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by kipperfan

Sure, but when we havent had a single government within recent memory(if ever) that hasnt broken promises is that really a fair measuring stick?

Yeah, but that's the whole point.

When the Liberals broke promises, the CPC supporters on this forum jumped all over them. Then the Conservatives made the cornerstone of their election campaign a promise to be more honest and accountable. Now we have a report published criticizing their accountability, and we get a whole lot of "well, every party is bad; they're no worse than anyone else" posts. It's a pretty startling double standard, but the key difference is that the CPC campaigned almost solely on a platform of honesty, openness, and accountability.

But, as was mentioned earlier, supporters of all political parties seemingly have a "sports fan" mentality, putting on the homer glasses whenever their party does something bad, so the reaction in this thread isn't overly surprising.

I also think that the majority of people (yourself included) actually agree with Harper's decision to stop the tax sheltering in income trusts.

Oh, I certainly agree that Harper made the right decision to tax income trusts (although he could have timed the anncouncement better). My criticism is that he made a campaign promise -- however misguided -- and then broke it less than 10 months after the election. It's doubly bad because the theme of his entire campaign was honesty and accountability.

[guzzy]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Is that something like being a little bit pregnant?

You are either honest or you're not. "Canada's New Government" is just like the rest of them. Not honest or accountable, and plenty willing to pass out favours to their pals. Surprise surprise.

Y'all can (and will) spin it any way you want, but it's pretty clear. They made promises and in the end broke them.

Yup that is exactly what I said a few times over.