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Ten reasons NOT to vote Liberal
Toronto Sun ^ | February 22, 2004 | Hartley Steward

Posted on 02/27/2004 7:00:01 AM PST by Clive

Following are 10 reasons I will not give my vote to the Liberals in the coming federal election, even if they offer to pay me the going rate. Hell, even if they offer the going rate in Quebec, which appears to be the sort of money on which one might retire.

1) Prime Minister Paul Martin is not the kind of person I want leading the country. The sponsorship scandal and how much he knew about it aside, he is simply too rich and has been too rich for too long. Most of his friends are rich. I think the possibility he knows anything about my problems is remote. The possibility he'll do anything to help is nil.

2) If the Liberals form the next government, I will lose all respect for Canadian voters. To retain even a modicum of dignity, we need to throw these guys out of office. They have humiliated us with scandal after scandal. They steal our money and lie about it. They've been doing it for the last decade. They've been laughing behind our backs all the while; having a good joke on us.

Astonishing incompetence

3) The Chretien/Martin cabinets have reached depths of incompetence astonishing even for Canadian politicians. Their cock-ups are breathtaking. A gun registry budgeted to cost $2 million escalates to $1 billion. I hear it might now be closer to $2 billion. Cabinet ministers have created a bureaucratic climate of wild indulgence. Elected to protect our tax dollars, they have been careless beyond belief with them.

4) This party cannot be left in government, with access to the public purse, any longer. It is rotten to the core and a time - perhaps a long time - in opposition is necessary to cleanse it. The backroom deal-makers, the hangers-on, the opportunists, the crooks who have been drawn to it over the last 10 years, will abandon it in a minute when it no longer can funnel money their way. Maybe, in the political wilderness, it will rebuild itself into something resembling a party ready to govern again.

5) Hundreds of Liberal political appointments, here and abroad, need to be gotten rid of, to say nothing of thousands of bureaucrats, many of whom turned a blind eye while the government raped the nation. A great, cathartic purifying of our civil service needs to be undertaken by a new government.

6) Our new PM does not seem to have any sort of vision for the country; any firm agenda from which to govern. I think of him as Ad Hoc Martin, making it up as he goes along. I see him with his finger held up to the public wind, gauging its direction, making his decisions, forming his policy, by how it blows. A real leader has a notion of where he is going and persuades his supporters to follow. I'm betting he'll lead us nowhere.

7) The first job of a nation's federal government is security. Our national government is supposed to see that we, the citizens, are safe from harm. First and foremost, it is supposed to protect us from our enemies. For 10 years this Liberal government, of which Martin was a senior part, has almost entirely ignored our safety. It has let our armed forces deteriorate into an understaffed, underfunded force which cannot even supply its own transportation. It has made us dependent on the Americans for protection and then insulted them.

Pathetic legislative record

8) This government's legislative record, after three terms in office, is pathetic. Do you think it will improve? The PM's own staff is urging him to leave the political firefighting to someone else and get back to governing the country. The only bit of creative legislation to come out of the Liberal years was the Clarity Act, which did, in fact, instantly dampen separatist spirits in Quebec. While the Liberals took the bows, the fact is, the government was taken by the hand by Opposition Leader Stephen Harper and led each step of the way through the passing of the bill.

9) The dramatic effect of the sponsorship scandals on Liberal popularity has given new vigour and opportunity, to say nothing of hope, to the opposition parties. They will, with a legitimate chance to form a government in the foreseeable future, be able to attract qualified candidates everywhere. The Conservatives should be able to build and elect a team capable of taking over the reins of power. One need not fear they might be over their heads in government.

10) Finally, I think we have at hand someone of integrity who can handle the job. I'm speaking of Harper, who has, to my mind, grown considerably in his current job. He has conducted himself, under fierce scrutiny by Canadians, with diligence and dignity. He has stuck effectively to his Opposition knitting, performing well in the House and in his bid - which will likely succeed - for leadership of the new Conservative party. He has mostly erased the sorry memory of Stockwell Day and very nearly rehabilitated the image of his party.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: liberals; topten

1 posted on 02/27/2004 7:00:02 AM PST by Clive
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To: Great Dane; Alberta's Child; headsonpikes; coteblanche; Ryle; albertabound; mitchbert; ...
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2 posted on 02/27/2004 7:00:30 AM PST by Clive
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To: Clive
BTT
3 posted on 02/27/2004 7:02:02 AM PST by Warrior Nurse (Black, white or Hispanic the jihadists are trying to kill us all, you better recognize!)
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To: Clive
Except that the author has forgotten about all the hate crime laws and rulings that the Liberal party has promulgated both within the legislature and the Canadian supreme court.

That in and of itself is reason to throw them out.

4 posted on 02/27/2004 7:03:18 AM PST by sauropod (I intend to have Red Kerry choke on his past.)
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To: Clive
More silly antics from the 51st State.
5 posted on 02/27/2004 7:11:42 AM PST by Seruzawa (If you agree with the French raise your hand... if you are French raise both hands.)
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To: Clive
On another board, there's a Canadian liberal who mocked the hell out of me when I said that now that the conservative parties had reunited, the totally free ride of the Liberal Party was done for. He was deeply, obnoxiously insulting.

I admit that I would -love- to see the liberals at least have to fight to keep their power the next election, so I can smash him into tiny little particles and dance on the remains. Mean-spirited? Trust me, if you read his tirades, you wouldn't think so.

Qwinn
6 posted on 02/27/2004 7:15:11 AM PST by Qwinn
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To: Clive
Their cock-ups are breathtaking.

Maybe that's what got them the women's vote...

7 posted on 02/27/2004 7:22:16 AM PST by aquila48
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To: Clive
It has made us dependent on the Americans for protection and then insulted them.

'Tis the way of socialists.

8 posted on 02/27/2004 7:47:57 AM PST by randog (Everything works great 'til the current flows.)
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To: Qwinn
Mean-spirited?

One cannot possibly be mean-spirited enough towards the grifters, toadies, and demagogues who constitute the body and spirit of the depraved Liberal Party.

IMO. ;^)

9 posted on 02/27/2004 7:49:18 AM PST by headsonpikes (Spirit of '76 bttt!)
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