The Toronto Star is suddenly sensitive to unnamed Liberal officials who think it inappropriate for a Prime Minister -designate to appear in a photo op with the RCMP Commissioner. (to clarify – they’ve always been sensitive to the opinions of unnamed Liberal officials.)
But when did we start caring what the Star thinks?
Here’s a tidbit that does merit attention because this pattern has been repeated by a Liberal government supposedly flush with surplus cash – that never seems to be spent where the funding announcements say it’s supposed to.
Hiring more RCMP and strengthening border security? $9B worth of announcements, while detachments close and there are still no new officers. Indian Health spending? The same money announced three separate times. Military spending?
Asked why the military has been so slow to add the 8,000 troops promised by the Liberals, Hillier had a blunt reply � the government has yet to give him the money to make good on the pledge.
I’ve been saying this privately – now I’m going to go out on a limb and publish it here.
It all reminds me a little of two other governments that were running “surplus” budgets – Allan Blakeney’s NDP in Saskatchewan (where the debt was being buried in the crowns and the “surplus” turned over to Devine amounted to the cost of running the province for a week), and the British Columbia example of Glen Clark’s “cooked” books. I’m starting to wonder what surprises are in store when the Conservatives get their first real look inside Finance.
Far fetched? Maybe. But consider the facts about the Paul Martin Liberals: we know that they’ll lie, and we know that they’ll steal.
You think we can trust their accounting?
I bet Toronto Star would like the photo with Castro.
maybe they will be good enough to print a photo of some prominent Toronto Liberals posing with the Tamil Tigers
Kate, you just bang on nailed my biggest concern. What if the “Surplus budgets” we’ve been posting have been pure bullshit, and resulted in mortgaging other assets.
I’m seriously afraid that the CPC are going to find themselves with landmines all over the place. Martin is awefully quiet, the Liberals are awefully quiet.
Perhaps the new Gov’t should quietly appropriate 133 passports until a forensic audit is done. Wouldn’t want anyone leaving the country to quickly.
the red star has nothing to do. first its shaking hands with his kids now some liebral uppty up is upset when he’s photograhed with the RCMP. sure hope SH was asking about the progress of all the allegations of fraud theft etc.
and kate your probably not to far out on the limb. looking at the books, if there are any left, will probably be as you suggest.
It kind of makes me wonder why Martin so eagerly sold Petro-Can just when oil was beginning to really boom…trying to clean up some of those cooked books?…just needed a wad of vote-buying money?
D
I hope that’s not the case.
The thing that points to the Liberals not cooking the books, is the fact that they have been so bad at budgeting their surpluses.
If they budget for a $1.9B surplus and end up with $9.1B…it doesn’t exactly make them look smart.
No one ever questioned the Liberal photo ops with dead soldiers. Who are they to complain about a live cop?
I fervently hope that your analysis is in error. BUT, I’m damned sure you’re not far off the mark. There’s definitely something fishy here. It’s not like the Liberanos to go quietly into the night.
By way of balancing the budget, how does cancelling all Liberal pensions sound? At least until Harper and Company get past having a very, very careful look at the books
Maybe this is why McKenna had a last minute change of mind… perhaps someone tipped him off as to what’s really been going on.
most of the surplus was due to a new way of accounting , the feds started counting their assets. say put Banff National Park on the books at 1billion dollars. the national art gallery at 1.5 billion plus the pictures. “voice of fire” 2 million. etc.
The MSM can�t grasp Finance and until recently there has been no effective Opposition. What if Martin balancing the budget was a myth?
Actually Canada�s budget isn�t really balanced because Martin downloaded and most provinces are running deficits which will get worse as the 60 year old baby boomers start racking up huge bills on Health Care.
Martin didn�t even do the balancing job in Ottawa, other factors fell nicely into place to balance off what one could argue was a padded deficit of $42 billion when the Liberals took over in 1993:
– Interest rates gradually dropped by 10% from 14% in the early 1990�s on the $600 billion debt. That�s $60 billion saved right there.
– GST now collects $50 billion a year (the Liberals were against GST)
– NAFTA created the most powerful trade relationship between 2 countries the world has ever seen, creating jobs and profits and tax revenues for Ottawa (the Liberals were against NAFTA)
– Health Care transfers were slashed and Mike Harris wrongly blamed for shortfalls.
If the Liberal Party turns out to be as bankrupt, as rumour has it, it shouldn�t surprise anyone, without windfalls in his lap, Martin was a failure. And the only legacy Chr�tien had was the Clarity Act, drafted by Harper/Manning, implemented by Dion and criticized by Martin.
There has been more $$$ wasted than we could ever hope to know. I’m not worried about not having anything left for all the good causes that the CPC are planning.
After they stop the waste they will be in the black far greater than we could ever believe.
When the AG gets access to those “off-book” Federal Foundations I predict there will be hundreds of $millions missing and the trail will lead to every Liberal Law Firm, Advertisng Agency and related Bagmen & Fartcatcher Brigade out there.
Many have lined there pockets during the Liberal reign of kleptocracy . . .
tick tock, tick tock . . . the jig is up for these bastards.
The liberals claim, Canada’s revenue is at
195 billion………….
They claim, the cost to run things is at
185 billion………….
Hence 10 billion surplus….
When the conservatives get a look at the books
we’re going to find out it really only costs
about 150 billion to run things…..
There is a lot of money out there that needs to be recovered, we’re going to see criminal charges
and a lot of liberals will go missing.
Billions of dollars is un-accounted for, stashed in foundations and crown corporations that have been protected from the auditor general…
Wait and see….
Yu can mistrust da ‘tit gar de Sawining to get the mi$accounting done, addly enough. Two draft$, plea$e. 100% Proofdaporoof.
http://www.voy.com/178771/128321.html
author: gritaholic
Thieves do not ‘balance’ budgets. They steal. They launder money and they ‘offload’.
Not just money in paper bags but money in ‘foundations’ .. they have learned their lessons from the UN: How to look legit when you’re not.
The liberal party has been in power and stayed in power on ‘illusions’.. for IF our tax dollars went where they said they did and the budget had been balanced as they touted, we would now have GOOD roads. Good healthcare. Good educational concepts IMPLEMENTED. Indian Affairs would not be ‘an affair’ and a disgrace, but a portfolio showing some modicum of success. Ditto the HRDC, Gun Registry.The Military would be armed and trained and manned. The RCMP would have their men trained and manned. The Border would be manned, trained and ARMED! Why is it we can’t see what is right in our faces?
It has been a shell game perpetrated by criminals of the lowest stripe and we still elected 103 of them to oppose the most decent government to come to our aid in 100 years!
You know, Kate, you’re not the only one who mused to yourself about the possibility and probability that the Liberals were using accounting trickery to make it appear as if there’s a surplus.
I myself have wondered about it, too. But were I to have actually said so to folks, they’d have dismissed me as a kook or a nut. Why? People have been somehow programmed to believe in the institutions of the state and the state itself, particularly the Liberal state. Few of us contemplate that the entire state apparatus could be vastly corrupt, even criminal. However, little by little, evidence trickled out as it’s impossible to hide everything a gov’t does wrong. Then during the election, we’d have a gusher each day due to Chretienites sabotaging the Martin campaign.
One reason why the Conservatives’ platform was, well, conservative, is that in the back of everyone’s mind, subconsciously, is a little tiny voice constantly reminding everyone that it’s always possible that we’re actually broke and the Liberals have been covering up the fact with clever accounting tricks. The EI surplus? We know it’s gone. The CPP premium hikes Martin imposed upon us awhile back? How do we know there’s any CPP fund, that they haven’t been putting some into general revenues/expenditures?
Another possibility is that they’ve been diverting far more money into pipelines that lead to their personal enrichment somehow, someday… hell, perhaps there’s untold billions of tax dollars sitting in Swiss Bank accounts collecting millions and billions in interest as we speak, ready to be spent by Libranos who leave the country, perhaps for fear of prosecution should they remain?
Hmm… that’d be the ultimate ripoff in the history of the world.
Just thinking about the possibilities has one getting excited…
I’ll stop here before I start to go nuts… LOL
And my, my, my, isn’t it interesting, that the Liberals have announced that the party is only between two and three million in debit. Thats a long way from the thirty to forty million that was floated around before.
Looks like Sheila Fraser has job security for years to come.
Kate,
I think this deserves it’s own post:
Straussian Conservative Conspiracy?
Re: Belinda Stronach
I just heard Belinda on CBC saying she hasn’t decided if she was going to run for the Liberal leadership. I believe that she will. Does anyone think she will end up leader of this party?
Harper meets with RCMP head
A high-ranking Liberal fumed that the photo opportunity “raises a lot of questions” about the relationship between Harper � whose party had criticized the RCMP for dragging its feet in investigations involving the Liberals � and the senior leadership…
Kate and others, I think you’re not too far off the mark. There’s a reason that Martin & Co were so desparate before and during the election, and why now no one wants the Liberal leadership.
Things are getting very interesting indeed.
I’ve got a poll going right now that shows 43% think Belinda will at least run if not win.
http://plattytalk.blogspot.com
Can’t you just hear the press and the lib/left screaming witch-hunt in the not to distant future. Mr. Harper, their eyes are glazed and their knees are wobbling, go for the throat.
‘Trust Liberal accounting?’ Not by a long shot. Interesting that today BCE announced the layoff of 8000 workers–they are trough buddies of the Liberals–any connection?
I fear for Canada when we see the real books–will Harper be able to work with the crumbs that are left? I doubt it. We will be the pauper country on the world stage. Everything that the Liberals have promised over the past 12 years has not had one cent towards fulfilling those promises but the money has disappeared. When Crimestoppers in Kelowna has to hire 3 RCMP officers to boost the number of police to answer calls, this after $9B was promised by the liberals to beef up ‘safety and security’ we know we are in trouble. How much more will come to light?
Yeah… now that I’ve thought about it some more and have considered Jon’s comment about the desperation and the fact that no one seems to have declared they’re running for the leadership, it’s seemingly more and more plausible that there may have been far more wrongdoing than we thought.
I’ve always wondered why, despite all the tax revenue they took in, public services were all the while falling apart? The waste and stupid spending can perhaps be only part of the answer.
In short, we, the people, really don’t know if the previous government was telling the truth about the finances of the nation.
It’d be child’s play to lie about the budget being balanced, considering the amount of power they had over so much and the fear the Liberals were able to instill in everyone…
Yes, they used fear extensively as a tool to keep the people in line. Now that they’re gone, it seems that people don’t seem so afraid anymore, like the RCMP Commissioner and the Chief of Defense Staff. Think about it.
I have a feeling the Liberals might be closer to death as a party than they want to admit.
How about this conjecture:
The foundations have been hiding massive loan portfolios and the cash register is empty with only enought “float” to do the day to day stuff.
Big spending programs?
In true Liberano style: “FAHGEHDABOUTIT!!
From what I hear, Daddy Stronach ‘bought’ his little girl’s ‘win’ in NewMarket-Aurora..and will buy her a leadership too if she wants it.
After all we have heard and seen these last couple of years, what , about that, would be a surprise??
With the almost weird silence of the Liberals, and the number of big name shoe-ins for leader… ya got wonder what they know that we don’t.
I’m getting this feeling that there’s a footlong cucumber heading straight for the asshole of every Canadian taxpayer.
One thing that doesn’t get any play is the fact that a budget with a surplus is NOT a balanced budget. My wife is an accountant and would be crucified if she budgeted this way. A surplus means that we are beening over taxed. A balanced budget takes in what it needs plus a small amount for unforseen eventualities. The Liberanos have been able to hoodwink Canadians into thinking they are the world’s greatest stewards of public money. Martin was not as great a Finance Minister as he is being portrayed (see nomdenets post). I hope that a forensic accountant is hired to pore over the books and put some people away.
That isn’t far fatched at all. This is perhaps my biggest concern for the CPC. How much money will they really have to work with? But accounting is a sleazy business at best. I’ve personally sat in on several finance meetings of some of the largest energy companies in Canada listening to them decide how best to portray the picture in their annual report. A couple very large outside accounting firms also sat in on those meetings. I was the designer who drew up the graphs, spreadsheets, statements and annual reports. I remember how many times I changed them before finally getting an okay to go to press.
I also wonder why all of the top Liberals have refused the leadership job. Do they know something we don’t?
I think that the old time liberals who have stuck with their party over so many years and elections may have a reason to be very, very pissed at what these guys have done to their party. I know some who have voted Liberal from Trudeau to Martin. They are still in denial. Too loyal.
I still say that we are witnessing the death of a political force in Canada. It is now left to Harper to put it out of its misery.
I never thought I’d live to hear “NDP, Her Majesty’s Official Opposition”. The way the Libs are going though…
Cripes, next they’ll be telling us the earth really is flat, and they’ve just been fucking with us up till now.
Geez… I sincerely hope there’s no big surprise’. I was really looking forward to Capital Gains deferal. Can you imagine what it would do to public market confidence internationally if it’s discovered that the Lib’s cooked the books.
I’m thinking I should head off to a US cash account for a month or so.
Has anyone ever heard of or met a person who has been awarded one of those Millennium scholarships that were established with $3 billion in the Chretien era?
As to the RCMP, particularly the federal enforcement side, it has been starved of resources. When I retired in 1996 the Vancouver Drug Section was staffed at 128 members and the Montreal Drug Section was at 109 members; last year staffing levels were at 70 and 38 respectively.
I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist or an accountant to know that the Liberals figures do not add up. The report on the gun registry is due out this month, after it was post-poned in Nov. I think it will fill in a lot of blanks as to Liberal sleight-of-hand. If Parliment isn’t sitting I don’t know if it will still be released, but it should be soon thereafter.
re- Millenium Scholarships
Bruce-yup, my daughter got one.
With revenues at around $190 Billion, I’ve always figured at least $20 Billion was pure slush money.
The accontability pledge should include forensic audits of the books for the last few years.
JoeCalgary, re: “I’m getting this feeling that there’s a footlong cucumber heading straight for the asshole of every Canadian taxpayer.”
Yes, but hopefully not until the “flags of convenience” have been firmly planted up Martin’s Ahole. :))
Someone should start a lottery for estimates of how many more $millions or $billions will be found to be missing or stolen, once the new govt has had time to go over the books and bank accounts.
Gomery Phase 2 Report
Table of Contents
* Preface
Part One: Background
* 1. Introduction
* 2. What Has Been Done
* 3. What Canadians Said
Part Two: Accountability
* 4. Parliament and Government
* 5. The Responsibilities and Accountabilities of Deputy Ministers
* 6. Strengthening the Chain of Accountability
* 7. The Prime Minister, Ministers and their Exempt Staff
* 8. The Privy Council Office and the Clerk
Part Three: Transparency
* 9. Advertising, Sponsorship Initiatives and Lobbying
* 10. Transparency and Better Management
Part Four: Conclusions and Recommendations
* 11. Rebalancing the Relationship Between Parliament and Government
Appendices
* A: Terms of Reference
* B: Advisory Committee Members
* C: Research Program Participants and Studies
* D: Written Submissions
* E: Roundtable Participants
* F: Consultation Questions
* G: Staff of the Commission >
http://www.gomery.ca/en/phase2report/recommendations/
I recommend someone ask Gomery about the appointment of Raymond Garneau.
I’m with Mr. Crittenden.
Of course the Liberal Party of Canada can come to an end.
And it should.
Why keep it? It’s thoroughly disgraced. And there’s more yet to come.
Even Rome fell. As did the mighty Soviet Union.
Time to get used to the idea of no longer having a “Liberal” party in Canada.
Let’s move forwards, not backwards.
Juys saw Belinduh on CPAC . . couldn’t understand a very simple question tossed her way in French.
Belinduh as LPC Leader would be the ideal outcome for PMSH.
Can you imagine, the next campaign, at the debates ?? He’d make mince meat of her on policy issues – anything of a “complex file” nature.
Back on topic… The Toronto Star really does not qualify as MSM…..Local Rag pandering to liberal/leftist/statist and politically correct social hypocrites and fools…..Yes!
Sounds like MSM to me. Local, national, it’s irrelevant. MSM is MSM. They all suck as sources of comprehensive, relevant, important information from a cerebral point of view.
Much of it is just sensationalism to sell copies. Plenty of fluffy filler like the annoying articles about that movie about two cowboys who like one another. Yeah, really, really relevant stuff in the MSM.
Is the MSM talking about what Iran is planning to do to us? Nope. They’d rather prattle on about sexuality and such irrelenancy.
The MSM is a bimbo.
I am sure Maurice taught Paulie and crew a thing or two about creative accounting.
irrelevancy, that is. my typo.
I am pretty dissappointed at this Gomery report.
First and foremost, Ministers should be accountable for management decisions, and should be answerable to Parliament for management decisions.
Parliament ultimately has the role of setting policy through legislation.
Abdicating management of government departments to non-politicians is an absolute mistake that will cost the country dearly, and will allow ministers to defer all questions of misconduct within their departments to unelected and effectively unnaccountable deputy ministers.
Also — just look at the circumstances that gave rise to the Gomery inquiry in the first place — the misconduct of civil servants. Giving unelected and unnaccountable civil servants even more power will only make the problem worse.
If Gomery’s proposals are implemented, they will be a huge step backwards for the country and a huge step backwards for democracy. I hope the Conservatives put his report on the shelf, and actually do the opposite — strengthen the role and accountability of individual cabinet ministers in running their departments, as opposed to allowing entrenched career civil servants to do so.
When they were in power the Libs gave every appearance of believing that the RCMP were their own private, partisan enforcers and intimidators, to be used whenever they felt a need to teach an object lesson to an uncooperative BDC head or a nosy journalist.
Yet when Stephen Harper, in the mere process of learning the ropes, stands on the front steps of RCMP headquarters to have his photo taken, some “high-ranking” Liberal official starts bleating about “open partisanship” and the need for “neutrality”.
What a truly revolting bunch of hypocrites.
The Red Star’s unfettered journalism of un-named sources in so very, very cheap as well. When they quote “high-ranking” Liberals who “decline to be named” they make it sound as if someone graciously turned down a kind offer of recognition.
The implication is that a “high-ranking, un-named source” might be a Minister, or something, who only speaks off-the-record about something of import. The truth is that we get instead a stream of shitty little potshots, taken by what could very well be some errand-boy in the Liberal party.
Quality journalism, to be sure.
lofasz
Your parents raised you well, they obiviously spent a lot of time with you.
I’m just glad you brought up Glen Clark. Even dippers here in BC respond to that name by wincing and going, “Shh! We don’t talk about Him.”