It was the day Stephen Harper had been dreading. The one that has forced him to keep such a low profile some are calling him the invisible man of Parliament.Or depending on your point of view, the invisible maniac… Driven crazy by defeat.It was the …
Continue readingTag: Jim Flaherty
Scott's DiaTribes: Inconvenient comments from Conservatives on Budgets
Inconvenient comment #1: Inconvenient Comment #2: Former Conservative Finance Minister – the late Jim Flaherty – ruled out dipping into contingency fund last year to balance the books: Flaherty told CBC News it would be “imprudent” to
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Income Splitting and Progressive Taxation
The motivation behind the idea of Income Splitting is quite reasonable. Namely, under the current scheme, two families with identical total income can be taxed at substantially different rates, depending on how that income is distributed between both p…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Income Splitting and Progressive Taxation
The motivation behind the idea of Income Splitting is quite reasonable. Namely, under the current scheme, two families with identical total income can be taxed at substantially different rates, depending on how that income is distributed between both parents. Given the fact that families do very often function as a
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Income Splitting and Progressive Taxation
The motivation behind the idea of Income Splitting is quite reasonable. Namely, under the current scheme, two families with identical total income can be taxed at substantially different rates, depending on how that income is distributed between both parents. Given the fact that families do very often function as a
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: If a Tsunami Was Coming Our Government Would Warn us Right?
Last month the Australian Broadcasting Corporation released the findings of the International Monetary Fund’s study of house prices in developed nations. They were ranked by affordability based on income. The worst three countries were Belgium, Canada and Australia. Australia is specifically mentioned by the IMF’s deputy managing director Min Zhu
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: The Harper Cons have announced they are naming the new Finance…
The Harper Cons have announced they are naming the new Finance Canada building after the worst finance minister in Canadian (and Ontario) history, “Deficit Jim” Flaherty. To reflect Flaherty’s disastrous political record and mean-spirited personality, it will: Be small and useless Go billions of dollars over budget and have a
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Canonization of Jimbo Flaherty
Well I knew what he was going to do from the moment he announced that Jim Flaherty would have a state funeral, for no good reason.And then let it be known that he had PERSONALLY written the eulogy he would deliver.And sure enough he did turn that solemn occasion into
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Goodbye, Jim
The other day I wrote a post on Jim Flaherty and his ‘legacy,’ inspired by two columns published in The Star. On this day of his state funeral, it seems appropriate to offer the views of a few Star readers on Flaherty’s record, and the posthumous accolades and state funeral
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Advice to progressives: Don’t airbrush Jim Flaherty’s record out of sympathy for his family
The late Jim Flaherty tries on the traditional new shoes just before delivering his 2012 federal budget. Below, some of Mr. Flaherty’s friends and colleagues: former Ontario premier Mike Harris, in whose government he also served; Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Decent people naturally feel sympathy with
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Flaherty’s Legacy – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The unexpected, shocking death of Jim Flaherty, the Conservative Party’s only Finance Minister until his retirement less than a month ago, has resulted in hundreds of warm tributes for his commitment to public life and praise from those in business and conservative circles who approved of his financial and economic
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: I Come Not To Praise Flaherty
I have thus far avoided writing about Jim Flaherty’s passing for a very simple reason; it is difficult, if not impossible to keep separate his family’s personal loss with the man’s record as a politician. Yet two pieces I read in yesterday’s Star convinced me otherwise, and they allow me
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Canadians will forever be indebted because of Jim…
Canadians will forever be indebted because of Jim Flaherty. Regardless of what one thinks of the recently deceased man on a personal level, if one uses objective, non-emotional criteria, it is clear that he was probably the worst finance minister in Canadian history. Unfortunately for us, his replacement, Joe Oliver,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Ezra Klein comments on the U.S.’ doom loop of oligarchy – as accumulated wealth is spent to buy policy intended to benefit nobody other than those who have already accumulated wealth: On Thursday, the House passed Paul Ryan’s 2015 budget. In order to get
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Jim Flaherty: The Man and the Legacy
I think it's fair to say that he was a better person at the end of his political career than he was at the beginning.He did reinvent himself from a pit bull to something vaguely resembling a pragmatist. He did become more human.And I'm sorry he died before he could spend more
Continue readingTrashy's World: Haven’t posted two entries on the same day for a while.
… For quite a while. But I had to say something to a wider audience than FB. I am SICKENED by some of the comments I’m seeing on the news stories about Jim Flaherty’s sudden death. Shit, peeps, really? This is just the depth that som conservatives sunk to when
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Death of Jim Flaherty
“We are, of course, not in the world alone and our lives here are finite.” “Our individual and family responsibilities are primary. Yet the desire to accumulate private goods in the end does not lead to satisfaction simply because, as we all learn, enough is never enough.” – Jim Flaherty,
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: Questioning legacies: Flaherty and the PQ
This week’s podcast takes on government economic policy. First, Armine Yalnizyan looks back at the tenure of Jim Flaherty as federal Finance Minister; the interview is based on an article she recently published in the Globe and Mail. Armine is a senoir economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. She is also a
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A More Realistic Appraisal of Jim Flaherty
If, like me, you were rather appalled by the hypocritical yet predictable enconiums offered to Jm Flaherty by his political foes, you will likely enjoy this letter from Ottawa Star reader Morgan Duchesney, who renders a far more realistic appraisal of the departing Finance Minister: Re: Chance for a fresh
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Stewart Prest writes about the Cons’ war against experts: (I)n modern democratic states one of the most important sources for non-partisan information and expertise is the government itself. Government bureaucracies are the only institutions in the world today with the access, the resources,
Continue reading