Saturday, January 04, 2014

Harperland and the Winter of Our Discontent



Gawd. It's getting grim out there in Harperland. I've never seen so many people looking so miserable and so grumpy. Every subway window seemed to me today like a framed picture of despair.

The weather's brutal, the credit card bills are coming in, the future has never seemed more uncertain, the country never so lost. People are screaming at each other like maniacs on comment boards everywhere. It truly is the winter of our discontent.

And to make things even grimmer, if that's possible eh? There was Andrew Coyne today agonizing over why Stephen Harper is so unpopular. 

Real wages, household incomes, average net worth: all are at or near all-time highs. Unemployment is back below seven per cent: not as low as in the boom years of the last decade, but lower than at most times in the past 40 years. The proportion of the population on “low income” is the lowest it has been since Statistics Canada began collecting data on it. 

The paradox remains: How could a government presiding over such a strong economy be so unpopular? It is unusual enough for a governing party to fall, and stay, below 30 per cent in the polls. But to do so in good times? Unheard of.


And in the process helping to spread the myth that Harper is a Great Economist Leader. 

When in fact he's just a Con man who is only interested in killing government. He's so ignorant with numbers, or so crooked, he gave Pamela Wallin's expenses a passing grade...



When Pammy comes after him it's not going to be pretty.

And his job creation record is so appalling, for that alone he should be FIRED.

Net new job creation has barely kept pace with population growth, and the employment rate has been stagnant for almost three years—languishing far below its pre-recession highs. No wonder it still feels like a recession in the labour market; by this key measure, we are hardly any better off than during the darkest days of the financial crisis.

He hasn't created enough jobs, most of the jobs he has created are lousy ones, young people are losing hope, retirees are filling grocery bags just to survive.

All he has to show for his phony job grant plan is an expensive propaganda campaign in search of a program.

As the federal government struggles to get provinces on board with the new Canada Job Grant, focus groups felt that a federal government ad campaign was effective in promoting the still-nonexistent program.



Which made people feel warm, and then feel CHEATED.

And even if Harper does come up with pot of money, by slashing services and killing jobs, so he can bribe voters with an income splitting proposal, it's also much less than advertised. 

Solberg and his former colleagues in the Harper government are trying to spin this as a panacea for everyday families, but the largest share would go to high-income families where one partner is in the top tax bracket and the other has no earned income. 

Even worse, the Conservative approach to income splitting would provide no benefit at all to single-parent families – even though more than a quarter (28%) of all children live in families headed by a single parent. The same holds true for families where both partners work and have incomes below $43,561.

And in an angry grumpy country it will only stoke the resentment of all those who paid for the program but didn't reap its benefits. 

They'll all want to be paid off eh?

As if Great Leader didn't have enough problems...



Because that sordid senate scandal isn't going anywhere. 

And the main reason Stephen Harper isn't going anywhere either, no matter what he says or does, is because after eight years most Canadians can't stand the sight of him anymore.

They don't like him, they don't trust him, they just want him to GO.

Which of course explains why he has been keeping such a low profile. Hiding from the public, avoiding the cameras, even if that means ignoring the plight of a million Canadians freezing in the dark.

And reduced to putting out a solitary tweet like this one today to show he's still with us...



In body if not in mind.

And even if it suggests that he may be drinking heavily, and is at the very least clearly DESPERATE...



Yes indeed, I don't know why so many progressives are feeling so grumpy. But I'm not eh?

When they've got to hide him to make him more popular you know The End cannot be far off. 

He's losing his moxy, he's losing his marbles. He's almost good to GO.

What more can we ask for in this winter of our discontent?

Have a great weekend everybody !!!

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing has made me sadder, and a lot about this government has made me depressed, than the 'book burning' at the Fisheries library. This lost information is something we can never get back. Shouldn't those who destroy public documents of this kind, without following the proper protocol, be charged?

cheena1 said...

^ YES, of course they should! and he (harpo) and his merry bunch of bandits should all be charged with vote tampering, election fixing, etc etc etc i could go on and on. However, why not think about this - Really, I mean - think about this! We see this in Europe all the time ... and it works!! Please, just give it some honest thought!

OK, I know yer gonna get mighty tired of seeing and hearing this, but:
https://www.facebook.com/events/346703702131529/?source=1

Because, surely by now you are sick to death of reading about all the raping, pillaging, illegal deals, FTA's, TFW's, Senate scandals, Robocalls, tarsands deals, Northern Pipeline etc etc etc And it's time to end this criminals reign - a couple million Canadians marching to Parl Hill and refusing to leave until he gets the hell out would do it!!! THINK OF IT! You have 2 months to plan, implement, arrange, rally friends, coworkers, etc... We can do this you know!!


e.a.f. said...

getting a a couple of million Canadians to protest will not be easy to do. for one thing the country is too spread out, its too large. This isn't europe where you can drive through a country a day. Its much easier to get to a central point The capital of Canada is ottawa and its 4 hrs to Toronto by car and another 4 days to get to B.C.

Canadians won't be protesting until things become much worse. More like the "dirty thirties" and even then only some protested.

Of course Canadians are grumpy. things aren't getting a hell of a lot better for most and getting worse for many. people go to work and come home and start the next job, either at home or in another work place. its hard to be ungrumpy when it is hard to make a living and have little time to enjoy even the simple things. Families now frequently have families and friends on different shifts. its hard to see others for support. Lots of people ran off to the Boxing Day sales, but for every one "buying" there was some one working who wasn't with family and friends. Stores stay open til midnight. How does that make life better for families or individuals. It just makes it harder to communicate with family and friends. Its also not all that enviornmental. When stores stay open, there is a use of energy.

People frequently have two jobs to make ends meet. How do they get a couple of days off to relax and recharge. How do they get a 2 week summer vacation. Many don't any more. In many parts of Canada a stay at home vacation is possible. But people just don't get enough time off to enjoy their lives. They have to work to keep their heads above water and their children feed. That is why people are grumpy.