Jason Kenney and the Insane Con War on the Deficit

Yesterday I told you that Jason Kenney has apparently decided to ignore his better political instincts, and his main adviser, and is preparing to launch his campaign to become the new leader of the Harper Party.

And has decided to make the Liberal's projected deficit his main campaign weapon.



Even though polls show most Canadians support the idea of a deficit.

And the only ones it seems to drive absolutely crazy, are people like Kenney, and Andrew Coyne.




The faithful Con stooge at the debt ridden Postmedia empire, who is practically twitching with outrage at the thought that the Liberals CHOSE to go into debt. 

There has been no great falling off of revenues since the last budget: in fact, for fiscal 2016 they came in slightly higher than forecast. Had the Liberals stuck to the spending track laid out in that same budget — financing new spending out of cuts to existing programs — the deficit would be a non-issue: perhaps $10 billion this year, half as much in subsequent years.

There are any number of ways they could have kept their promises, in other words, without running $30-billion deficits. These are debts of choice, not of circumstance.

And actually suggests the Liberals should have stuck to the spending track laid out in the HARPER regime's last budget.

You know, Joe Oliver's desperate plan for an even grimmer bloodier future...



Even though the Liberal's projected deficit is a small one, a tiny fraction of one percent of our GDP.

And even though it was a Liberal campaign promise, one that helped set their brand apart and win them the election.

And as Chris Hall writes, they are only doing what they promised. 



Trudeau and his finance minister Bill Morneau want to connect with voters who see the role of government as an agent of change.

There is a pattern here. Trudeau's Liberals aren't waiting any longer to redress historic wrongs by committing billions of dollars to indigenous communities. They're starting it off in their first budget. 

These Liberals aren't signing on to a climate change deal and then sitting back to see what the rest of the world will do. They're preparing to take extraordinary measures, up to and including imposing a national price on carbon emissions. This is not a Liberal government focused on the immediate rewards, or on the here and now. This is a Liberal government looking to secure a different future.

But then why should we be surprised? When both Coyne and Kenney share the same belief, that government should be shrunk until it's small enough to drown in a bathtub.

And of course, Coyne has other motives as well...



And the good news?

If Kenney thinks that he has a winning issue, that will propel him to victory...



He is sadly mistaken. For as Tim Harper points outs, the future may not be as scared of the D-word as Coyne and Kenney. 

It isn’t just lack of Commons time that will make Kenney’s campaign tough. It is the larger question of whether young Canadians — those who voted Liberal — are so used to rolling the dice on their own budgets, with hefty mortgages, heavy credit card debt and longer-term car loans as a route to their own financial growth that they merely shrug when their government does the same. 

Perhaps those who rail against living beyond your means and demand fiscal accountability are part of the older demographic that is loyal to Conservatives. By echoing that base, Conservatives again risk shouting at the converted even as they are unheard by the demographic they must woo in order to grow.

And as polls show neither are almost half of the Con's supporters.

While it came as no surprise that only 12 per cent of Liberals and 21 per cent of New Democrats oppose this fiscal plan, Abacus found 41 per cent of Conservative supporters “accepted or supported” the government’s fiscal plan.

So Kenney's absurd deficit campaign will only appeal to only the most rabid members of the Con base, and will prevent the Harper party from renewing myself.

Which is why I must ask you again to please join my campaign to anoint Jason Kenney as the next Con leader...



Unlike him I'm not going to ask you to pay for his campaign.

Just pray generously for his glorious victory.

So that he can lead his flock, and the Con media, to their final and total destruction...

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