Last week got off to a bad start for the federal government with tens of thousands of Canadians signing petitions against Conservative plans to slash the department of Veterans Affairs by half-a-billion dollars and chop 500 employees.
This misguided austerity, aimed against veterans, was also criticized by the Veterans’ Ombudsman and the Royal Canadian Legion.
Then on Tuesday – more fallout on the economy. The Finance Minister slipped into a business meeting in Calgary and quietly dribbled out his mid-year report on Canada’s worsening financial situation.
Usually, the publication of this official report is a really big deal. It’s typically released at a public meeting of the House of Commons Finance Committee with lots of press coverage and expert analysis. But not this year.
The Conservatives tried to hide it because it shows the country’s growth rate is dropping. Their deficit will not be eliminated by 2013/2014 as they promised during the election. All the little personal tax breaks they boasted about are now postponed into never-never land. And more jobs are in jeopardy.
But inexplicably, they’re still going to impose a further job-killing EI payroll tax, come January 1st.
Then on Thursday – another shocker. The Conservative Party fessed-up to violating Canadian election laws during their 2006 campaign. They went into court and pleaded guilty!
At issue was a Conservative accounting scam by which they had tried to conceal more than a million dollars in illegal over-spending on attack-advertising. And remember, that 2006 election (which first brought Mr. Harper to power) was determined by fewer than 5,000 votes in a handful of constituencies.
That result is now forever tainted.
The Conservatives’ bad week ended with their pugnacious Agriculture Minister accusing the duly-elected producer-Chairman of the Canadian Wheat Board of being a thief. He had to retract that offensive slur, but couldn’t muster the civility to apologize.
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