MAGICIANS AT WORK

It’s the summer before an election, and political magicians are hard at work perfecting tricks to puzzle the mind and dazzle the eye. But magic, of course, is no more mystical than making people look over there so they don’t see what’s going on over here.

What’s going on over here isn’t good for the federal Conservatives. On Thursday, Merrill Lynch predicted Canada’s economy will have shrunk by 0.6 per cent in the second quarter, which would officially put us into recession. This on the heels of a report that Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz, who’d earlier predicted an “atrocious” first quarter, recently referred to January’s interest-rate cut as “lifesaving surgery” that needed to be done despite the side-effect that over-indebted Canadians would further gorge on cheap money in a housing bubble. And oh, what’s that? People who made fortunes betting against the U.S. housing market are now shorting Canadian real estate?

But SHAZAAM! Watch me pull Thomas Mulcair’s 2007 job hunt out of my hat! ABRACADABRA! It’s an attack ad against Justin Trudeau set to an ISIL anthem, complete with pictures of a drowning cage! PRESTO! Actual climate change policy on a shorter timeline than 85 years is a tax on EVERYTHING! This summer, no trick is too silly or cynical.

Stephen Harper isn’t to blame for that lousy economy, as much as his opponents would like to frame it that way. He doesn’t control oil prices. What the Conservatives are to blame for, however, is waving their magic wands and producing a “balanced budget” by dipping into a contingency fund and selling GM shares at a big loss so they can spend the summer on a spending binge ahead of October’s election.

What these supposed fiscal conservatives fail to acknowledge is that poor decisions today will lead to far more difficult decisions down the road — and if you don’t believe that, peruse the Ontario Liberals’ latest budget. But no, the Tories insist on implementing expensive tax-splitting measures for high-income couples, introducing a plethora of boutique tax cuts of dubious merit, and have even floated the idea of another GST cut (ALAKAZAM!).

So what happens in future years when the budget is a shambles, but the election is safely behind us? A tax hike? Deficits? More government job cuts to further depress Ottawa’s economy? Ah, why talk about that when you can toss money around while making fun of Justin Trudeau’s hair and passing around a re-hashed story about free agent Thomas Mulcair talking to the Conservatives (along with every other party) about a possible job?

Voters should remember what’s really going on behind all that smoke.