On the passing of Jim Flaherty

I intended to say nothing out of
respect for his family. But.....

As my Dad used to say, "if you can't say something good about somebody, then say nothing at all". Good advice for the most part that I've admittedly ditched in my mad rantings about the evils of Stephen Harper's Reform-a-Cons in this blog. But when one of the enemies of the state pass, it's only good etiquette to suspend the vitriolic volleys out of respect for the family of the deceased. 

So with that in mind, I had resolved to say nothing at all regarding the late Jim Flaherty. I didn't like the man in life, but the passing of any human being is a tragedy of mammoth proportions to the family of the deceased. I know this from personal experience. So do most people my age. So I suspended my twitter attacks on the Harpercondriacs for a good 24 hours out of respect, not for the passing of the man himself, but out of respect for his grieving family. 

The Opposition parties were suitably solemn as one would expect them to be when any of their colleagues buy's the farm. Hell, even Harper himself was positively magnanimous about the departure of the late Jack Layton, offering to allow him a state funeral. But knowing what a cold hearted heel Harper is, this was probably not as much out of respect,  but thanks for the surge in Laytons NDP in 2011 that may well have helped Harper win his fraudulent majority government. 

But now the undeserved accolades for Flaherty are pouring in. Mostly from the

Jim Flaherty, Friend of the 1%.

mainstream media who hypocritically seem intent on canonizing the very man they routinely lambasted (and rightly so) in their columns. It is one thing for Citizen Stephen to heap adoration on his co-conspirator, calling him a "great Canadian". One would expect that. But for the supposedly unbiased news media, this is absolutely intolerable. 

 The Ottawa Citizen said that Flaherty was: "a steady hand on the tiller", a phrase taken directly from the "Harper spin-doctor" play-book. The Halifax Chronicle Herald claimed that Flaherty had:  "...a reputation at home and abroad as a capable minister" (I'm sure the Euro Zone won't much miss ol Jim's finger pointing and vacuous lecturing).  The Globe And Mail even went so far as to say that: "Jim Flaherty helped save the world from economic meltdown". Puleeeeze!

All old Jimbo did, was to take credit for the work Paul Martin did in stabilizing our economy and regulating our banks against just the sort of meltdown that did occur in 2008. If you'll remember, Jimmy denied the very existence of the recession at first. And even prior to the 2008 crisis, he had already squandered the $16 billion dollar surplus he had inherited from Martin on tax cuts that every expert in the field had advised against.  And when Mark Carney left the Bank Of Canada for England, Flaherty seemed absolutely lost.  

Put the fucking homeless in JAIL!

I can go on ad nauseum as to why Mr. F was nothing like the "Great Canadian" he is being made out to have been today. But think Austerity (ever notice that Flaherty and austerity rhyme?). Think vindictive cuts to the CBC. Think about the attack on the jobless via EI. Think about the attacks on the CPP and universal health care. Think about those mammoth, undemocratic, Omnibus-budget bills of his. And Think about the man who wanted to jail the homeless as Jimmy wanted to do when he was a Harrisite in Ontario. And while we're on the subject of Ontario, I'm sure there are thousands of families in Walkerton who will never forget nor forgive what Flaherty, Harris and Clement did to them. 

For more detail on Flaherty's record, see what the good folks at Progressive Press had to say when Uncle Jimmy stepped down as Finance Minister last month: What's With All The Praise For Jim Flaherty's Record

Well I've done a fine job of not heeding my father's advice once again. I didn't wish to speak ill of Jimmy at this time. It goes against the grain for me. So can't we just get by with saying Jim was "a good family man with a sense of humour" and leave it at that? Do we need to get all hypocritical and, well, LIE about the man? He was a career public servant, yes. But there are many, many, many Canadians today who wish he hadn't been. So lets just be respectful of the family and drop the Bull Shit. Ok?

The man who said "there's no such thing
as a bad job" never worked at a "McJob",
harvested tobacco, or slaved in a factory.

The Link Between Mike Harris's Common Sense De-Evolution and the Harper Regime

Mike Harris, author of the
Common Sense De-evolution

Those of us living in Ontario remember well the Mike Harris "Common Sense Revolution". It came hard on the heals of the Bob Rae years.

 Rae was Ontario's first and only NDP Premier and is remembered only for his wildly unpopular "Rae Days" which forced thousands of public sector workers to take unpaid days off in an effort to attack the Ontario deficit. Rae was soundly criticized by his power-base- organized labour- and the millions of Ontarians who were effected by this restriction in services. I myself have terribly painful memories of it's impact when my then pregnant wife was experiencing complications and needed to get an emergency ultra-sound and couldn't because all the technicians were on a "Rae Day". But while Rae became unpopular for this move, it saved many public service jobs, in contrast to the Federal Conservatives slash and burn strategy regarding public servants. 

So when Mike Harris came along, waving his blue book that seemed to contain all of the answers to all of our problems, the majority of Ontario voters were quick to jump on board. Harris presented himself as a grass-roots kind of guy with a down to earth kind of logic that backed his 'revolution". He was the "anti-Rae", the antithesis of what was commonly believed to be the usual "entitled" political elite. (not unlike Toronto's Rob Ford today). 

But Harris's "Common Sense" approach was to attack the public services in a way that was down right blood-thirsty. He slashed Welfare and bade recipients purchase dented 69 cent cans of tuna. He cut health care, closed hospitals and John Snobelen's  "useful" artificially created crisis in Education resulted in two teacher's strikes. And Harris closed his ears, stayed his disastrous course and refused to acknowledge the growing criticism and upheaval in Ontario. He had an agenda and he intended to see it through. The horrendous impact these policies had on the province are still being felt today, ten tears after Harris has left the political stage. Despite his so-called grass-roots common sense, Harris was no friend of the common man. 


But there is a direct connection between Mike Harris's "Rule-By-Sledgehammer" government and Stephen Harper's "Shock and Awe" reign of terror. The most obvious connection occurs when we take a peek inside the Harper Cabinet. 

Flaherty's Budgets
 are "Killers"

Right off the top, there is Jim Flaherty who was Harris's Minister of Finance. Flaherty has been Harper's one and only Minister of finance during his six years as Prime Minister. It was under Flaherty's watch and as a result of Flaherty's attacks on the public service that seven people died in Walkerton of an outbreak of E-Coli. Under his guidance as the Federal Finance Minister, there has been similar out breaks of E-Coli and Listeriosis at Canadian meat packing plants. Coincidence?

Tony "The Gazebo

Under Mike Harris, Tony Clement was the Minister of Health as hospitals were being closed and  people were dying in Walkerton. With Stephen Harper, Clement took on the same cabinet position which he held until he became known as "Tony Gazebo" due to siphoning off  millions of dollars of Tax-payers money for the beautification of his riding in anticipation of a scheduled G7 summit. Clement has since become the President of the Treasury Board and is Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page's chief adversary in the PBO's quest for Government accountability and transparency. 

Bombastic Baird never learned
to use his "indoor voice"

Then there's "Bull-Dog" John Baird, perhaps one of the biggest blow-hards in the history of Canadian Politics. Baird is well known for his rabid partisan "attack-dog" style in Parliament and having never mastered the art of the "indoor voice". Baird has held several different portfolios in the Harper Government and has left bloody fingerprints on each one. But Bellicose Baird was also a "Harrisite", serving in various cabinet positions in Ontario as well, most notably as Minister of Children, Community and Social Services which saw a vicious attack on Ontario's poorest and most vulnerable citizens. 

Bob Runciman
The personification of all
that is wrong with the Senate.

Another ex-Harris accomplice  Bob Runciman, who was the Ontario Minister of Justice, couldn't win a seat in his federal riding so Harper tossed him into the Senate. He has since become a hyper-partisan "Rah-Rah" Harpercondriac in what is supposed to be the house of sober second thought. He has done little since then to advance the cause of the Red Chamber's continued existence and has in fact, been the personification of all that is wrong with the Senate. 

Another little known connection between the two regimes, is that from 1997 to 2002, which was the majority of the Harris years, Stephen Harper was president of the uber-right leaning and highly secretive National Citizens Coalition. The Ontario arm of the NCC, Ontarians for Responsible Government were major backers of the Common Sense Revolution. But due to their highly secretive nature, it is impossible to know to what extent Harper and his connections had in funding and influencing Harris's agenda. 

Harris the Fraser Fellow

Since leaving politics, Harris, along with former Harper accomplice Preston Manning, have both become Senior Fellows at the Fraser Institute, the right-leaning think-tank that has major influence on current federal Government policy. So Harris might be gone from Government, but he is still influencing events in our country. 

Harper won his recent Majority on the strength of heavy campaigning in key Ontario swing ridings. In 2015, he will likely duplicate this strategy. He needs Ontario to win.  So when Canada goes to the polls in the next federal election, Ontarians would do well to remember the painful legacy of Mike Harris because he and Stephen Harper are not only cut from the same cloth, they are also well connected and Stephen the Terrible is merely duplicating Harris's agenda only on a national level. 

Yes, and little "Timmy the Terrible"
was also there.

Harper and Harris. 
A 2008 meeting of the 
criminal minds.

Could Harper be the World's Worst Economist?

Jim Flaherty
"I Spend, therefore I am"

First of all, lets get something out of the way. Jim Flaherty might be the Finance Minister, But Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls the shots. This is not a scenario peculiar to Flaherty. It is the same with every other cabinet portfolio in the government. The Ministers might be the front men, but the policies are the Prime Minister's. This is how Harper does business. Those who work with him know this. Those who challenge him are no longer with the government. 

Harper Fancies Himself an Economist:

Harper fancies himself an economist. He has a degree in economics from the University of Calgary.- A word here about the Calgary School of Economics. The name is meant to be a take-off of the Chicago School of Economics who's most famous and influential participant was Milton Friedman, the God Father of Disaster Capitalism and the guy who helped Augusto Pinochet rebuild Chile's economy after his brutal Coup d'etat in 1973. Both the Chicago and Calgary schools can be called "schools of Neoliberal thought"  (economic Liberalism as opposed to social Liberalism) in that they believe in economic Liberalization and deregulation, free trade and completely open markets.  In addition, these schools are vehemently anti-union in that they feel:

(1)"People are "egoistic, coldly calculating, essentially inert and atomistic". Being egoistic, people are motivated solely by pain and pleasure. Being calculating, they make decisions intended to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. If there are no opportunities to increase pleasure or reduce pain, they will become inert. Therefore, the only motivation for labor is either the possibility of great reward or fear of hunger. This belief led classical liberal politicians to pass the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, which limited the provision of social assistance. On the other hand, classical liberals believe that men of higher rank are motivated by ambition. Seeing society as atomistic, they believed that society was no more than the sum of its individual members. These views departed from earlier views of society as a family and, therefore, greater than the sum of its members". 

So as a result, "Neoliberal adherents are also completely anti-social safety-net as well, believing that these programs are "demotivators" to the work force who should be spurred on by the "fear of hunger" or the possibility of "great reward".


Harper the Man and Harper the Economist:

So this gives us a glimpse into Harper's values as an economist. They are cold, pragmatic and ruthless, which, for the most part, is a reflection of the man himself.  It should be noted however, that Mr. H was never, ever a "practicing" economist. He went straight from post secondary studies into the waiting arms of the Reform Party, a group of social-hooligans who's modus operandi seemed to suit young Stephen's economic and political theories. And that is the key word here: "theories".

Harper's knowledge of Economics is purely theoretical. With the exception of his years as Prime Minister, he has no real-world experience in the field. With this in mind, lets take a brief look at Harper's track record as an economist.

- In 2006, Stephen Harper became the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada. He inherited from Paul Martin, his predecessor,  a $16 billion government surplus. By the time of the Great Financial Melt-Down of 2008, that surplus was completely squandered. This is in part, due to  decreasing the Governments revenue stream that was generated by the GST from 7% to 5% at a cost of $19 billion from 2007 to 2009 alone. 

- In 2008, the great recession enveloped the world. Even though Canada was in a better position to weather the storm than our neighbours to the south, largely as a result of banking and economic regulations implemented by previous governments, it was an election year so Harper needed to be seen to be doing something about it. He was failing miserably on the environmental front so the recession provided him with the opportunity to play on his perceived strengths - the economy and "fear" - and to divert the national consciousness away from the environment which was, and remains, nothing but a nuisance to him anyway. So what did dear old Stephen do? He emulated the U.S. strategy which was largely unnecessary in Canada. In direct contravention of his Neoliberal roots, Harper got all Keynesian and spent truck loads of money the country didn't have. In a matter of three short years, Harper, the great economist, spent us from a $16 billion surplus to a $53 billion deficit. 

- Even while he was being Keynesian in his spending, Harper continued to be Neoliberal in other ways, as though he couldn't make up his mind how best to handle the nations purse strings. He decided to make good on campaign promises he had made to big business by reducing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 16.5% which is even lower than the US which is the self-proclaimed world capital of capitalism. This has greatly reduced yet another revenue stream  and cost Canada $22 billion in income since 2006. 

- So now that Harper has unnecessarily spent like a drunken sailor, accumulating the largest debt in Canadian history while slashing major sources of revenue, Harper's Neoliberal strategy is to make the poorest people in the country pay for his spending habits. He is doing this by slashing social programs,  laying off thousands of federal employees, changing qualification criteria for Employment Insurance, making people on EI accept lower paying jobs farther from home, upping the age for old age security from 65 to 67 (despite information from various real economists that this was a completely unnecessary move) and making immigrant workers work for 15% less than their Canadian counterparts. 

Stephen Lectures the World:

OK STEVE! Stop begging you're embarrassing yourself
You can sit at the BIG KIDS table this one time
But only if you promise to keep your trap SHUT!

Harper, especially of late, is prone to lecturing the leaders of the G20 and the European Union about how to handle their respective economies, saying they should emulate Canada (and of course, Stephen himself) He sites fiscal restraint and deregulation as the way to beat the global crisis. However, he fails to mention that economic regulations from previous governments are a major reason for Canada fairing better than many countries and that, rather than being fiscally responsible, he has spent Canada into a record breaking debt. I wonder then, at what point the other world leaders are going tell Stephen to "take a long walk off  a short pier"? It's no wonder he had to beg to be allowed to "observe" the Trans Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership talks recently. I wouldn't be surprised if Barack Obama told Stephen he could come along for the ride on the condition he kept his mouth shut!

(1) From the Wikipedia article on Classical Liberalism