Frankly, it’s a joke for Liberals to lecture anyone after blowing a budget surplus, racking up huge deficits, and shattering their promise to balance the budget

And the some-what muted hits by the CBC, on the Conservative Party of Canada, continue unabated.  In fact, they appear to be increasing as we hit the six-month mark before October’s federal election.

In a Radio Canada News story dated May 2^nd (please note English translation provided by Liberal supporter John O’Fee) stated:

All political parties in Ottawa - with the exception of Andrew Scheer's Conservatives - say they are prepared to submit their election promises to the Parliamentary Budget Officer's analysis for this fall's vote.

For the first time ever this year, Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Yves Giroux will offer parties the opportunity to calculate the costs of their election commitments .

Beginning June 23, the government's "watchdog" on financial matters will suspend its regular activities to focus entirely on requests from political parties that want a neutral estimate of the costs of their promises.

On Facebook Wednesday (May 8^th) O’Fee commented that, “.... unlike most of the nonsense I see posted, I actually can cite reputable source (the CBC). It's true that the Liberals and the NDP are prepared to have their platforms costed and not the Conservatives”.

True, to a point .... and yet ALSO UNTRUE.

According to the same Radio Canada story, the Liberals of Justin Trudeau, who are behind this new measure, are already saying that they will use the services of the Parliamentary Budget Office ... along with the Green Party and Maxime Bernier’s Peoples Party of Canada.  Meantime the NDP and Bloc Quebecois both appear to be in favor of using the services, however they will wait to see details of how it will work.

When asked about the subject, Conservatives simply indicated that they were, “... working on the development of our platform and it is our priority at the moment."

I’m not sure how O’Fee took that comment and them somehow translated it to mean the Conservative platform won’t be costed out; that does seem a stretch however. 

Also, a huge stretch were the comments of Mark Gerretsen, Liberal Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands.  He went so far as to say, “Andrew Scheer just made a very important move. He officially refused to allow the Parliamentary Budget Officer from reviewing his election platform. This can mean only one thing: if elected he would slash funding everywhere just like Doug Ford has done”.

This comment, along with a tacky image / graphic, was posted by O’Fee who in fact was a one-time candidate for the federal riding.  Co-incidentally, John O’Fee had Terry Lake (former Kamloops Mayor and BC Liberal MLA) as his campaign manager.  And “Yes:” ... that’s the same man who is now seeking take the seat from Conservative MP Cathy McLeod

On social media, John O’Fee suggested that perhaps I might be ... willing to mete out some praise to the Federal Liberals for pursuing this initiative?

Sorry John .... but I don’t think so.

Personally, I feel it is a good idea to have the budgetary position of each party analyzed by an independent office. That said, the Parliamentary Budget Officer will only be analyzing, and costing, the platform of any party requesting this.

It DOES NOT MEAN that the platform Justin Trudeau’s Liberals take in to the election will actually offer us anything near approaching a balanced budget.

That said, hopefully having ballooned our debt by 10's upon 10's of billions of dollars, it would be nice if the Liberals at least tried to achieve something close to a  balanced budget.

SO ... having the PBO analyze, and cost, the platform of any party does not mean a balance between income and spending. Instead it will ONLY MEAN the figures will be somewhat accurate -- leaving lots of wiggle room for even greater debt.

That’s likely why Kamloops Thompson Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod stated to me that:

“Our platform will be fully costed and vetted by an independent third party”, before continuing.

“It’s frankly a joke for the Liberals to lecture anybody about costing and budgeting after blowing through a budget surplus, racking up huge deficits, and shattering their promise to balance the budget” ~~Kamloops Thompson Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod.

That comment was likely made after hearing about this announcement by Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Co-Director of Campaign for Quebec.

 

“It gives some external credibility (using the PBO office). It highlights the details of the platforms, and we are totally open to that."

Sorry Pablo ... but your Liberals have blown any remaining credibility they still had with Canadians, with scandal after scandal and billions up billions in extra debt you promised would not happen.

As Andrew Scheer comment just a few days ago, “Justin Trudeau’s government tried to politically interfere in a shipbuilding contract. When he got caught, like he did with his SNC corruption scandal, Justin Trudeau tried to destroy Vice-Admiral Mark Norman for standing up to him”.

“Conservatives will work to expose Justin Trudeau’s appalling behaviour in this case and hold him to account for once again exacting revenge on someone who stood up to him”.

That said, it should be pointed out to John, Terry, Pablo, and any others who need to hear the news, this IS where the Conservatives actually do stand:

“Over the next several weeks, I will give a series of speeches called My Vision For Canada that will show Canadians how, as Prime Minister, I will lead the country on the major issues we face together”, said leader Andrew Scheer.

Those issues will include, for example, Justin Trudeau’s Carbon Tax.  Just one of many that’s punishing Canadians and not helping the environment, along with standing up for Canada’s arctic sovereignty.

Said Scheer, “In a relatively short period of time, the world has become a very different place. This is a fact that we ignore at our peril ... a Conservative government would build a stronger Canada in a turbulent world”.

Canadians are paying for Justin Trudeau's mistakes ... including watching as he neglects Canadian veterans, instead of seeing they are treated with fairness, dignity and respect.

Continuing with what will be in the Conservative platform, Scheer noted, “I will strongly reject the idea that Canada should be neutral on the main issues of our time. I'm going to seek to unite all the free peoples of the democratic world to confront and undo the forces that go against our interests”.

On top of scrapping Justin Trudeau’s Carbon tax, Scheer has indicated that as government they will also take the GST off home heating and energy bills.

Said Scheer, “You shouldn’t have to pay tax on a necessity like heating your home”.

“Life is getting more expensive and Justin Trudeau is making it worse.  Additionally, one could say that Justin Trudeau's plan to eliminate jobs in the energy sector is working, as communities (and Canadians) lose billions in income and jobs every year”.

By the way, one final comment on the Parliamentary Budget Office that Trudeau's Liberals seem so proud to be taking their platform budget to.  In an April 30^th news story, the Globe and Mail let it be known that:

“... they expect federal deficits will be slightly larger than what Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced in his March budget --- a projection that six years of deficits will total NINETY-ONE BILLION DOLLARS.  The PBO says it expects government spending will be higher than projected in the budget and tax revenues will be lower.

It seems the Parliamentary Budget Office is letting us know where federal finances are heading for over the next several years.... STRAIGHT OVER A CLIFF!