Chicken Harper and the Con's New Campaign Song

Well as you know Chicken Harper has changed his tune or his feathers. Now he isn't going around claiming people should vote for him because only he can save us from the terrorist menace.

Or because our economy is so strong, and he's a Great Economist Leader.

Now he's claiming we should vote for him because the economy is so weak, only he can save us.

And playing cheap politics with the Governor of the Bank of Canada. 

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is defending his decision to contact Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz during the federal election campaign, insisting that managing the economy is a key responsibility of being Prime Minister.

When in fact the Governor has no control over the stock markets, or the situation in China. And Harper is just using him as a prop, as Jim Stanford points out here.

Because of a narrow, perverse political calculation, Conservatives have decided that it is to their advantage for Canadians to be as worried about the economy as possible. And so they are actively playing up the risks. The call to Poloz was part of that strategy: Things must be bad. Why, the Prime Minister even had to call the central bank governor!

Even though his gloomy message could actually make things worse.

Economists understand well that in a market economy, the psychological sentiment of economic agents can have real economic effects. If consumers and businesses feel confident about the future, they are more likely to spend on major purchases and capital investment — thus helping to usher in the good times they were expecting. On the other hand, when pessimism sets in, they sit on their wallets. Worried consumers put off major purchases, businesses postpone capital spending. And those actions alone can bring about a macroeconomic downturn. Fear becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And of course, even though Harper has the worst economic record of any Canadian leader since the Second World War. 

He did put all our eggs in one oily basket...



Only to end up with egg all over his face.

And as for the surplus he still claims his government still enjoys, it's just a myth or another Big Lie. 

Because his budget was based on an oil price of $56 dollars, and since it's now at $39 and falling what he has is in fact a growing DEFICIT.

As the price of oil competes with the loonie to see who can be the first to hit rock bottom.



But hey, details, details.

Great Chicken Leader still believes he can make Canadians believe anything as long as he says it enough times.

And the good news? His economic advantage is not as great as it once was.

On questions related to which party or leader is best able to handle the economy, respondents in three of four recent polls gave the Conservatives and Harper an edge of just one or two points over Tom Mulcair and the New Democrats. In only one poll, by Ipsos, did the Conservatives manage a wide lead on this issue (38 to 28 per cent for the NDP).

But in the same poll, Ipsos found that the Conservatives were tied with the NDP on who Canadians trusted to create jobs. Léger gave a two-point edge on this question to the New Democrats. The Liberals trailed in third on both issues, but only by a narrow margin.

Which no doubt explains why the Cons have a new campaign song...



So much for the silver haired fox.

So much for Great Economist Leader.

He may be desperate.

But this pigeon won't fly...



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