[tofocsend]

"successive Liberal governments have continually entrenched soviet-style management in the executive branch"

I can never understand conservatives who accuse the centrist opposition of "soviet-style management" and power grabbing. In the United States and Canada (with the Republicans and PC/Conservatives, respectively), the so-called conservative party has shown itself every bit as willing to grab power, extend its reach, and run an authoritarian, top-down system.

Conservatives are supposed to value good economic policies, balanced budgets, etc., but are all too willing to turn a blind eye when partisan politicians abandon these values for pure cronyism (see: Tom DeLay).

Love 'em or hate 'em (I lean towards "hate 'em" for various reasons), the Liberal government of Canada has run large surpluses for several years running, cut personal and corporate taxes, and reduced the debt-to-GDP significantly. Canada has the second lowest taxes in the G-7.

In the past four years, the Republican government of the United States has extended its legislative reach over individual liberties, run massive government deficits, presided over the highest current accounts deficits in history ($600 billion last year, a predicted $700 billion this year), and been associated with scandals, cronyism and corruption on the order of billions of dollars.

In Canada, about half of voters vote Liberal again and again because they perceive it as the least of several evils. Think about it: after 12 years in continuous power, they've managed to run a $250 million scandal. That works out to less than a dollar a year in wasted tax money per Canadian. It's a slimy business however you look at it, but miniscule when you consider the larger picture.

Again, note that I'm not a Liberal supporter and have never voted for them. I just like to see the facts straight. When the Mulroney Conservatives were in power, plenty of scandal ripped through Parliament Hill. No less than 8 PC Cabinet Ministers and MPs had to step down over corruption, influence peddling, bribery, conflicts of interest, etc. A quickly-buried report found that the Conservative Ontario government under Mike Harris engaged in an advertising pork barrel similar to the Sponsorship scandal and about the same relative scale.

I know someone's going to mention the gun registry here, so let me get the jump: this was a classic case of a P3 gone horribly wrong. When governments and corporations partner up to develop programs, the government assumes the risk and the corporation writes itself a blank cheque. It's a recipe for over-billing, poor oversight, and mismanagement. Again, there's not a government in recent history that hasn't made a similar bungle (Halliburton, anyone?), and right-leaning governments are actually more willing to do this, becuase they're more willing to indulge in these sorts of quasi-free market transactions.

[goldstategop]

Its a good point - the Liberals are corrupt but they're good stewards and its better to have someone in office who robs you for your good instead of pretending he's better than every one else. That's why Canadians keep voting for them - they're the devil you know. Why take a chance on an untrusted new party?

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[canbull]

save me your sanctimony.

comparing Tories to the Liberals is a bit like comparing a J-walker to a serial rapist.

People make the Mulroney resignations out to be huge 'scandals"...give me a break. You didn't mention that the Liberals had to apologize to Mulroney, or that Sinc Stevens was just exonnerated recently for "tainted tuna". Your "influence peddling" - which sounds terrible - refers to Charest, who called a judge and then apologised? oooh!!!

Considering the mess Mulroney inherited from Trudeau, not to mention ridiculous inflation and an Opposition that cried bloody murder every time the Conservatives tried to do anything (de-indexing pensions?), it is amazing what he accomplished. To be sure, the GST and Free Trade led to the conditions where a grade-school kid could balance the books in the 90's. Not to mention the gall the Liberals had in down-loading their deficits onto the provinces.....bravo!

Unreal...

Let's consider e few Liberals screw-ups and scandals over 12 years:

- Shawinigate
(most PM's would be in jail)
- APEC pepper spray incident
(PMO's interference in RCMP efforts)
- HRDC boondoggle
(Liberal slush fund...$billion wasted...."what is a billion $?" - Chretien)
- Tainted Blood
(scnadalous, and heartless...they refused to pay compensation to a whack of people who got Hep C from the socialist health system)
- Mulroney lawsuit
( the Liberals had to apologize and pay damages for falsely accusing the previous PM of receiving kickbacks for an Airbus deal....ironic that the Liberals appear to have been caught in a kickback scheme, no?)
- Pearson Airport deal
(ridiculous waste of money for partisan purposes)
- Helicopter deal
(ditto...plus, they have endangered the Canadian military unnecessarily)
- GST
(promised to scrap it to win an election, then not only kept it, but expanded it and reaped the financial rewards for a tax that they professed to loathe...typical)
- Free Trade
(said they would scrap the deal unless it was renegotiated...won election partly based on this promise....not only did not review or scrap it, but expanded Canada's involvement in NAFTA)
- Gun Registry
(registry program was to cost $2 million....is approaching $2 billion with no end in sight, and has solved nothing)
- Challenger Jets
(the Conservatives were crucified for the purchase of a luxury jet for the PMO...Chretien elected after saying Canadian politicians don't need "Cadillacs"....decided once entrenched in power to buy two luxury jets - which were not needed - at a cost of $100 million via untendered contract)
- CSL Grants
(the PM's company received grants from taxpayers....think about it.....all the while, CSL flew flags of convenience)
- Irving weekends
(self explanatory, I hope)
- flags to fight separatists
($30 million for flags with no eyelets; untendered overseas contract for "patriotic" display)
-"he is not a moron, he's a friend of mine"
(how to apologize for offending your best friend)
-“ damn Americans, I hate those bastards”
(how to diplomatically disagree with your best friend)
- Iraq war
(Canada didn't go to Iraq because "it was not sanctioned by the UN"...funny, but the same Liberals opposed the first (UN sanctioned) Gulf War, and sent assets to Kosovo for a (non-UN sanctioned) War........plus, we had soldiers in Iraq under US command)
- SGRO stripper
(the Immigration Minister allowed queue-jumping for help in an election campaign)

And the Mother OF All Scandals...ADSCAM.

Kickbacks for free election work.

wow.

And that's just off the top of my head.

So please spare me the "they're all the same" bullshit.

LIBERALS are the problem.