PM takes fire from all sides
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was able to capture Ottawa by demonstrating a remarkable combined skill at brutal and precise sniper fire and the ability to dodge all incoming ordinance.
Lately, however, Mr. Harper has come under fire from some unlikely sources, including his erstwhile close ally, Premier Brad Wall in the friendly hills of southern Saskatchewan.
Mr. Wall’s shots have included complaints about the cancellation of the Immigrant Investor Program; federal deafness over provincial concerns about the unilateral changes made to the Canada Job Grant; the meanness of cancelling health coverage for some refugee claimants; Ottawa’s impotence at tackling the backlog of western grain shipments; and the parsimonious budget commitment on infrastructure.
Mr. Wall isn’t the only one taking shots at the federal government. Hot on the heels of the prime minister mocking Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau for a dearth of economic acumen, the PMO received a critical letter from 74 high-profile economists from Canadian universities, think-tanks, professional associations and unions.
They warned that the Conservatives’ determination to shrink government, disinvest in the public sector and stubbornly push for a balanced budget could be devastating for the economy at a time when Canadians’ personal debt is at a record high and the private sector is failing to provide growth or create jobs.
Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne assembled an army of civil servants that put together a 34-page list of the 116 program cuts or extra costs Mr. Harper has forced on Ontario, reflecting concerns raised by the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation at the University of Toronto.
Taking shots from premiers is nothing new for a Canadian prime minister, and it’s worth noting that Ms. Wynn’s PowerPoint attack came at a time when her party is facing likely defeat in two byelections.
And Mr. Harper likely wasn’t surprised to learn of the leftleaning Centre for Policy Alternatives taking aim at one of the Conservative party’s flagship promises, calling income-splitting a tax loophole “big enough to drive a Rolls-Royce through.”
However, it must have been disconcerting for the PM not only to have the right-wing C.D. Howe Institute warn his tax cut will do “more harm than good” to the economy, but to have his finance minister join the army of voices against income-splitting.
Although Jim Flaherty refused to be flushed out on the issue during Thursday’s question period, he made his position clear in telling a media scrum this week that he doubts sacrificing so much tax money to benefit a few relatively affluent Canadians “benefits our society.”
His comments drew fire from Employment Minister Jason Kenney, who insisted that a Conservative promise made is a debt unpaid. So what about the promise to purchase an Arctic fleet of icebreakers, the commitment to see the Afghan war through to victory, and the vow to support veterans, or assurances that marketing freedom would move the wheat?
Meanwhile, in this new bizarro world that is Ottawa, it was left to NDP finance critic Peggy Nash on Thursday to deliver Mr. Wall’s fire in House of Commons.
The editorials that appear in this space represent the opinion of The StarPhoenix. They are unsigned because they do not necessarily represent the personal views of the writers. The positions taken in the editorials are arrived at through discussion among the members of the newspaper’s editorial board, which operates independently from the news departments of the paper.