reliance

Saturday April 20, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 20, 2019

Justin Trudeau finally got some good news this week. Courtesy of Jason Kenney.

The election of the old Harperite and his band of right-wing friends of the oil industry has suddenly made it clearer than ever the divide over the future direction of the country.

October 16, 2015

It’s clear where Kenney and the majority of Albertans who voted for him stand. Forget climate change and the catastrophe facing the planet. Albertans’ choice is a pipeline in every garden and a couple of pickup trucks in every driveway.

We now know that the NDP’s victory in 2015 was a fluke. Rachel Notley was an able politician but her attempt at a balanced approach to the issue of how a province hooked on carbon could make a reasonable effort at reducing the damage caused by its coal-fired power plants and GHG-producing oil sands was never going to win over voters long-term.

Like Philippe Couillard, who bravely and successfully tackled Quebec’s fiscal deficit and was rewarded for his efforts by being tossed out of office, Rachel Notley learned that voters don’t want politicians to take hard choices. They want to hear nonsense from their leaders, provided it doesn’t cost them a cent.

May 15, 2018

It’s the same idiocy that got Doug Ford elected. Remember him promising how easy it would be to balance the Ontario budget by simply getting rid of inefficiencies and cutting spending on “pencils and foolscap.”

I know Alberta is going through a tough time but that’s what happens when you live in a commodity-dependent economy. Prices go up and they go down, and you’re particularly vulnerable when prices sink and you’re a high cost producer.

Yet when times are good, Albertans convince themselves they’re rich because they’re so smart. And when boom inevitably turns to bust, they’re suddenly surprised. Who would have thought oil prices couldn’t tank? And of course, Justin Trudeau, not the world market, is responsible for oil prices.

All of this is made worse by Albertans approach to government finances. Alberta has made its own bed, deciding it wasn’t going to be Norway, which forces its citizens to pay their own way through taxes and squirrels away its petroleum windfalls for a rainy day. Instead, Alberta has modelled itself on a Mideastern petro-state. (Continued: iPolitics) 

 

Wednesday August 26, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday August 26, 2015 Fiscal plans take centre stage after markets turmoil As global stock markets plunged on Monday, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper urged voters to stick with his party's fiscal plan, while NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said a change in government would boost the economy. The S&P/TSX composite ended the day down 421 points while the Dow Jones industrial average lost 588 points. The loonie closed at its lowest level since August 2004, hitting 75.4 cents U.S. Speaking in Quebec, Harper acknowledged that Canada is facing "economic challenges," but pointed to the Conservative record of investing in innovation, infrastructure, immigration, training, and trade to create economic growth. "We're making investments in the things that will get us through this, and position us well for the long term," he said. He also highlighted Canada's "disciplined" financial framework, including a strong banking system, a balanced budget, and low taxes. By contrast, Harper said, the NDP and Liberal Party are proposing large-scale permanent spending increases, which they would finance through deficits and tax increases. "We think that is clearly the wrong track. It would be clearly damaging both in the short term and the longer term in this country," he said. "Given the challenges around us, we need to stick with a long-term plan that has been working and will work." HarperÕs office released a short statement Monday stating that he had spoken on the phone in the morning with Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz. "Prime Minister Harper and Governor Poloz discussed the recent decline in global stock markets and commodity prices, slowing growth in China and emerging markets and the potential impacts on Canada's economy,Ó the statement read. (Source: CTV News) Canada, China, oil, dependence, reliance, diversification, economy, dragon, markets, stocks, Alberta, advice,

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 26, 2015

Fiscal plans take centre stage after markets turmoil

As global stock markets plunged on Monday, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper urged voters to stick with his party’s fiscal plan, while NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said a change in government would boost the economy.

2011-2015

2011-2015

The S&P/TSX composite ended the day down 421 points while the Dow Jones industrial average lost 588 points. The loonie closed at its lowest level since August 2004, hitting 75.4 cents U.S.

Speaking in Quebec, Harper acknowledged that Canada is facing “economic challenges,” but pointed to the Conservative record of investing in innovation, infrastructure, immigration, training, and trade to create economic growth.

“We’re making investments in the things that will get us through this, and position us well for the long term,” he said.

He also highlighted Canada’s “disciplined” financial framework, including a strong banking system, a balanced budget, and low taxes.

By contrast, Harper said, the NDP and Liberal Party are proposing large-scale permanent spending increases, which they would finance through deficits and tax increases.

“We think that is clearly the wrong track. It would be clearly damaging both in the short term and the longer term in this country,” he said. “Given the challenges around us, we need to stick with a long-term plan that has been working and will work.”

Harper’s office released a short statement Monday stating that he had spoken on the phone in the morning with Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz.

“Prime Minister Harper and Governor Poloz discussed the recent decline in global stock markets and commodity prices, slowing growth in China and emerging markets and the potential impacts on Canada’s economy,” the statement read. (Source: CTV News)