A few reasons for this infrastructure spending statistic:
- For years the majority of infrastructure money and public transit money went to the cities.
- Most ridings outside of the Island of Montreal and Toronto are Conservative ridings, ergo, the majority of the landmass.
- Perhaps the small towns are able to move faster to get the money
- Conservatives trying to pay down the rural infrastructure debt caused by the Liberals?
- Goverment MPs and ridings always get more/bigger slices of the pie
There is 36+ billion more to payout, let's see what happens with the rest, there is plenty of head room for this to equal out.
13 comments:
Actually, there's a lot less than $36 billion to pay out.
You forget there was a Flaherty School of Financial Management deficit before the stimulus was announced.
And according to the PBO, who has been very accurate, the number is a lot less than Deficit Jim is reporting.
TangoJuliette sez:
Deficit Jim? is that anything like fibbin' " there will be no taxes" Deficit Dalton?
tj
Wow. I'm impressed... with the Tory braintrust. They got those talking points out fast. I've seen these weak points parrotted in a couple of places now.
Repetition does not make the points stronger.
The Tories have actually funded only about 20% of the projects they have announced and taken credit for. Of the ones they actually agreed to pay for, 80% of them are in Conservative ridings.
Harper lied about this in QP yesterday saying that the money was being spread to all of Canada. No wonder the talking points came out so fast: they realize how bad they look with this pork barrelling.
And saying that it is OK because government MPs and cabinet ministers always get to hand out the pork to their own ridings is an admission that it is a deliberate and calculated plan of pork. Vote for Conservatives and we will reward you.
Once upon a time, not too long ago, we dumped a Prime Minister and elected a new one because of arrogant, entitlement, anti-democratic, abusive thinking like that.
I am beginning to think will be doing that again very soon.
Hey Ted,
Is that the Liberal talking point? To accuse the conservatives of using talking points? I think it is.
I noticed you didn't try to refute anything, unless you mean by accusing me of using talking points. Which I don't. TBH, I visit the Liberal.ca website more often then the Conservative.ca website.
"I noticed you didn't try to refute anything
What is there to refute? You've said that it is pork and that cabinet ministers and government MPs have always had the ability to dole out pork to their ridings.
I and I think most Canadians reject that kind of preferential treatment. It is anti-democratic to promise to "deliver the goods" for votes and very un-Canadian.
But if you want a refutation then sure. Your claim that this is just about rural ridings is BS. Look at where these projects are located. The projects that have gotten funded are in cities even more than in rural areas: Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Oshawa. Infrastructure projects are going ahead everywhere and the Conservatives have announced billions in spending in the cities.
Yet, it is only the projects in Tory ridings that are going forward.
You know what at this point since 70% of the landmass is pretty much CPC ridings, and they have been neglected over the years, it should go there. And if you have an MP in government he should be lobbying to get that money in his riding, because that's what's availble right now.
Well, maybe that is a valid position to take Raven. It would be an odd way to make policy. Should most of our infrastructure money go to the territories because that is where the most landmass is? Makes no sense.
And it made no sense to the Conservatives either. The projects they announced and took credit for were largely/mostly urban. The projects that they have funded are largely urban.
The problem with this blatant favouratism is not some phantom urban-rural preference you want to spin, but that the money went to Tory ridings. And it went to urban Tory ridings.
Once upon a time conservatives said they cared about that kind of pork and privilege. But that was before they got in government.
'Yet, it is only the projects in Tory ridings that are going forward.'
Dear Ted,
Liberals won 6 out of 93 seats in Western Canada.
Liberals won 8% of the seats in WC.
So if 22% of the infra cash is going to Liberal ridings,
I'm pissed.
Liberal ridings are getting 3 times the infrastructure money than they have seats!!
That's it, eh Ted,
Cons are trying to buy ridings won by the Liberals.....spin on that!
Uh, that is a tad clueless, wilson. But nice try.
The Conservatives did not win 80% of the ridings in Canada. They did not even get 40% of the votes, let alone 80%. Conservative ridings are getting 80% of the funding however.
And the money is going to western ridings that the Liberals or the NDP have won before or to central Canadian or Eastern ridings that are alongside Liberal or NDP ridings. Hmmmmm.
And BTW Liberal ridings are not getting 22% of the non-pork money that the Conservatives are dolling out. Don't know where you got that number or why you made it up.
What gets me is the arrogance of Harper to think he could get away with this and not have it get noticed. That and how quick so many true conservatives have become party shills trying to fabricate any excuse they can to keep power.
Uh, that is a tad clueless, wilson. But nice try.
The Conservatives did not win 80% of the ridings in Canada. They did not even get 40% of the votes, let alone 80%. Conservative ridings are getting 80% of the funding however.
And the money is going to western ridings that the Liberals or the NDP have won before or to central Canadian or Eastern ridings that are alongside Liberal or NDP ridings. Hmmmmm.
And BTW Liberal ridings are not getting 22% of the non-pork money that the Conservatives are dolling out. Don't know where you got that number or why you made it up.
What gets me is the arrogance of Harper to think he could get away with this and not have it get noticed. That and how quick so many true conservatives have become party shills trying to fabricate any excuse they can to keep power.
Dear Ted,
I guarantee that in Nfld 80% of the projects will not be in Conservative ridings, that's a fair bet also in Quebec.
Opposition really sucks, eh Ted.
Let me recap the Liberal position(s) for this last 4 days:
Monday
Budget gets thru parliament
Tuesday
libs say 'Not one penny of money for infra has been distributed'
Wednesday
Libs attack govt saying 80% of the distributed money went into Con ridings (see Tues, what money?)
Thursday
'The stimulus isn't working' (see Mon, has the budget cleared committee and Senate and I missed it?)
Who's clueless?
Libs.
As they frantically search for a way to divert the news from Iffy being a Dannyboy,
they end up looking like flaming fools, you included Ted.
TiG and Red are awaiting your return from the 'otherside'.
Go home.
I think it is Harper who is desperately trying to keep the focus off him and his government.
Has he even spoken in public outside of his non-answers in Parliament since he was put on a leash by the Liberals? Maybe Iggy has told him he's only allowed to speak there.
But the numbers and facts can't be avoided, wilson.
- Record breaking spending before the economic downturn put us in a bad position to deal with the downturn
- Harper the self-described "economist" telling us that we will not go into recession and that we will have a surplus in 2009 and that we are much better positioned than the US
- record job losses in January put us worse even than the US
- Harper's appointed budget chief saying Harper's numbers don't add up and his deficit and job projections are way off, make no sense
- record breaking spending and record deficits that no Liberal has ever contemplated, including Trudeau
- partisan favouratism in doling out the infrastructure funding by 80% going to Tory ridings
- the Auditor General saying they are not putting on any controls on the money they dole out
- the Environment Commissioner saying that their tax credits are having no impact on the environment
- trying to bring criminal charges against MPs you oppose you
- trying to bribe MPs like Cadman to vote for you
- scamming election finance laws with the in and out scandal
And that is nothing to say about the unprecedented pace of broken promises starting from his very first day in office.
Like I've heard before: The Conservatives have done in 3 years what it took the Liberals to get done in 13.
I can't wait until we bring you down in March.
Of course they're crooks, that's how the system works. Honest people are not welcome in politics.
The Israel Lobby has so much power in Canada, it is not likely that Canada will ever have a balanced policy again.
This is exacerbated by the confounding and inexplicable tendency of ‘progressives’ to ignore the power of The Lobby.
They criticize Isr-el, but ignore the role of Jewish owned media and pressure organizations in shaping Canada’s policy towards Isr-el. The Israel Lobby in Canada got Lesley Hughes thrown off the ballot for stating some facts about Israel’s foreknowledge of 9/11–facts that were corroborated by an Isr-eli paper.
Powerful lobby groups like the CJC and Bnai B’rith successfully lobbied for War on Terror legislation that has severely curtailed Canadian’s rights, resulting in innocent Muslims being locked up without charges for years before their trials, and got Zundel detained in Canada under an unconstitutional security certificate. They have successfully lobbied for laws that persecute Canadians who exercise their right to free speech.
Now Canadian leaders read speeches that sound like they were crafted in Tel Aviv, and Canada is shamefully the only country on 47 on the UN Human Rights Panel that voted not to condemn Isr-el’s Gaza slaughter.
Understanding Mearscheimer and Walt’s paper on The Israel Lobby is key to decoding politics today. This is a MUST read.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html
Post a Comment