Well let's put it this way, his PMO handlers did their best to turn it into a glamorous photo-op, but it wasn't exactly Cinderella slipping on her dainty glass slipper.
And it wasn't pretty.
It was just Ol' Joe Oliver, pulling on his new pair of Made in America, New Balance running shoes with Con blue laces.
But as bizarre as that spectacle was, it did mark the beginning of Stephen Harper's final push for another bloody majority.
The symbolism of Finance Minister Joe Oliver donning a pair of Tory blue sneakers Monday for the traditional new-budget-shoes photo opportunity shouldn't be lost on anyone.
A federal election date may yet be six months away, but Tuesday's promised delivery of the Harper government's first balanced spending blueprint in eight years means the Conservatives are already off and running.
We are about to be hit by a barrage of Con propaganda like this country has never seen before.
Between Tuesday's budget launch and those well-timed, mid-summer family cheques there will be an orgy of government self-promotion, with $7.5 million already earmarked for "economic action plan" advertising.
These large set pieces of the Conservative re-election campaign will be augmented Tuesday with a host of smaller measures aimed up shoring up perceived weaknesses and bolstering perceived strengths.
And it will be a hog fest of epic proportions...
As the Cons try to buy Canadians with their own money, and brainwash them into believing that they know what they're doing, and that Stephen Harper is a Great Economist Leader.
When in fact his economic record is so bad that only Duffy's make up artist can save it...
Or NOT.
Not when he put all our economic eggs in one oily basket with disastrous results...
And not when all his brutish austerity policies have done is condemn us to mediocrity.
The IMF has a message the finance minister doesn’t want to hear: unless you are broke, you should be using fiscal policy to generate economic growth.
Oliver is actively ignoring Lagarde and the best thinking of the world-class economists she employs. He has made clear that the budget he presents in Parliament on Tuesday will be written in black ink. By doing so, he will be condemning Canada to economic mediocrity.
But then the Cons are hoping that their giant propaganda machine can turn the ugly truth on its head.
And that they can bribe and fool enough greedy and/or dumb Canadians into believing that only they can save us from disaster...
When in fact Harper and his monstrous Cons are the disaster that is killing this country.
And the good news?
As Chantale Hébert points out, even a basket or a trough full of budget goodies can't guarantee Harper's re-election.
If popular budget measures could guarantee the re-election of a three-term government, Paul Martin would have won the 2006 election.
But by the time Canada went to the polls eight months after the spring budget there was little left of the electoral good will it could have inspired.
It didn't work for Paul Martin and his Liberals and for the same or even better reasons it almost certainly won't work for Harper and his Cons.
As the Harper government delivers its last budget before seeking a fourth mandate, it is facing many of the same challenges that Martin failed to overcome in the 2006 election . . . and then some. That starts with fatigue with the prime minister.
Not when so many Canadians are so sick and tired of him and his grubby regime.
Because just like the Cons can't put enough mascara on their economic record to disguise how disastrous it has been.
They can't put enough lipstick on their Great Leader...
`To disguise his criminal incompetence, his lack of imagination, and dispel the feeling that he's been around for too long, and he's really good to go.
So if the opposition parties can come up with a more inspiring economic vision, along with a vision of a better Canada, which shouldn't be THAT hard.
All the propaganda in the world will not save him.
His tinny Cinderella coach will be exposed as a pumpkin...
And the economy that he once thought would lead to his coronation.
Will instead help bury him...
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19 comments:
Simon, that was truly sickening to watch the Oliver photo-op yesterday with reporters doing nothing to critically think through his disastrous policy that will keep us in mediocrity as you so eloquently put it. I am truly concerned about what lies ahead, Justin just doesn't seem to want to defeat harper enough that he's already dismissing a coalition with the NDP which tells me he is out of touch with this disaster that the harper gang has sprung upon us. I also fear that the Duffy trial, which essentially is really about harper's credibility, will wane into the sunset and the truth will be buried forever. Sorry, just not feeling a whole lot of optimism.
Today's the day the boasting, bragging, crowing, grandstanding and gloating approach biblical proportions as the Con Klowns pat each other on the back for supposedly balancing the operating budget and only adding 250 billion to our national debt. Wow! That's amazing. That's comparable to me balancing our monthly budget only because I got a third mortgage to pay off other overdue debt. It wouldn't be a pat on the back for me, more like a kick in the arse which is what the Klowns deserve. I certainly wont have the stomach to watch Jerk-off Joe deliver his smoke and mirrors "budget" while Slithery Steve and the seals clap on cue. As he's spewing his torrent of bullshit, I'll be out in the woods enjoying the sweet sounds of birds, the wind whistling through the pines and forgetting about life even if only for awhile.
JD
For all of our sakes, Simon, I hope you're right. This isn't even close to recognizable as the Canada my parents grew up in, let alone the one I was born in.
I sincerely hope that enough really is enough this time (as in election time) and that real Canadians get to the polls in huge numbers and landslide-vote these criminal bastards out for he next 200 years!
"Wouldn't it be nice . . ." The Beach Boys
The NDP, Liberals and Greens need to give the youth of this country a reason to get off their butts and vote. What about:
eg. forgiving part of their student loans from college/university?
eg. a promise that they would not conscript 18 year-olds into the army!
eg. free (or nearly free) job skills training courses at technical schools and colleges
What else?
Where is the money come from for the Cons to "balance" the budget?
eg. cleaning out the contingency fund (which is only supposed to be used for national emergencies)
eg. selling off their shares in General Motors?
what else?
If Oliver called his old buddy Jimbo Prentice here in Alberta for budget advice, I'm afraid we're all fucked, if you'll pardon my language.
FYI...... NDP has 51 per cent support in Edmonton so far in the next provincial election and growing province wide and even in Calgary. Harpo gotta be shitting his pants.
Can't improve too much on that philosophy. Hell of a good start. Stop fighting these phoney wars on terror and we would have more than enough money for those and many other worthwhile programs in this country.
The Cons moved 2 billion bucks out of the contingency fund, and did sell off their shares in GM.
On CBC today, Peter Mansbridge told Joe Oliver that if the Cons had waited 2 weeks longer to sell off the shares, the government would have earned an additional 100 million dollars! That blew right over Joe's head.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/04/20/ndp-surprises-with-a-surge-of-support-in-alberta-campai.html
http://www.albertandp.ca/rachel_notley_releases_election_platform
http://www.cbc.ca/news/elections/alberta-votes/rachel-notley-doesn-t-rule-out-coalition-talks-after-alberta-s-election-1.3041167
hi bcwaterboy....I can completely understand why you are not feeling too optimistic, because I have to admit even my legendary confidence has been slightly dented. I too can't believe what I'm seeing, such a blatant attempt to steal an election. But I'm still confident that enough Canadians will see this farce for what it is, and that in the end the desire for change will prevail. But yes, our side does have to be more aggressive for it will be a mighty struggle...
hi JD...yes isn't that shocking? They would call themselves real economists, while bloating the debt and doing absolutely NOTHING to fight climate change. And since I'm writing this after the budget was tabled, I think you made the right decision to go for a walk in the woods, for the stench was appalling. But all this should do is motivate us even more to defeat them, not only for ourselves, but also for future generations,
Our country is depending on us and we can't let it down...
hi anon...look I can't know if I'm right, but I do know that fighting those Cons is the right and Canadian thing to do. And I am still hopeful that enough Canadians still want something better, and that if we are strong and clever we will defeat them in the next election. I too want my country back...
hi anon...yes it is important to do all we can to motivate young Canadians to vote, and I do have some ideas about how to do that. As I've mentioned before I was able to witness how the YES side in the Scottish referendum was able to motivate young voters to get involved in the political process to a degree never seen before in that country or anywhere else. I'll be sharing some of what I learned in the next few days, as well as screening my conscription video, which I have just about finished. But all ideas are good ones because if we do increase voter turnout we will crush the Cons...
hi Way Way Up...I don't blame you for feeling that way, my language has been a little blue these days. ;) But think of it this way, if Olly called Jimbo for advice, let's hope he followed it, because where Jimbo is heading is where I want the Cons to go...
hi anon...yes I am fascinated by what is happening in Alberta, and if the NDP wins or does really well, it could have a major effect on what happens in the next federal election. And you're right old Harpo must be freaking out...
Old Harpo is younger than me by four years I personally believe he is a freak of nature ha-ha. There is something extremely wrong with Harpo extremely extremely extremely wrong with him extremely can I say that one more time?. Extremely. Which Prime Minister in history has ever played Mr dress-up? And the pretend show he runs in Parliament is outrageous. Only fools new comers and children buy his BS.
Simon you and your pal Seb enjoy your day don't get to hung up on this crap these freaky Harper-cons are destroying the planet because they think in their deluded minds "The Rapture" is imminent. Hell Christians have been saying that for over two thousand years now. Shows you how smart they are not eh?
Me I'm an atheist but I am spiritual not religious and an anarchist that does not mean chaos in the streets the true definition is self rule and not hurting or disturbing your fellow man and woman then we would not need the Harper-con clown criminal show eh?
Cheers,
Mogs Moglio
hi Mogs...Don't worry I don't let the Cons get to me. I admit that when I first read about their latest atrocities, it does make turn red, and I fell my blood pressure soaring. But with a couple of deep breaths I usually recover, and then I start laughing at them. For let's face it, they really are pathetic...
More pathetic and dumber than a sack full of ball peen hammers lying in the middle of the Saskatchewan prairie. No offense meant to Sask it is their saying I learned it while working with them.
Cheers Simon,
Mogs
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