Stephen LeDrew

[building babel]

A bow tie looks better when worn with a shirt with a covered placket front. Otherwise the buttons are distracting.

 

[bizorky]

Screw the province and the feds, keep the tax revenue here in Toronto. Imagine what an extra 15 Billion a year could do for the city. Torontonians come first, than the rest of the taxpayers in Canada can wait.

The "brilliance" being in that you just can't put that many people in jail all at once for tax evasion.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Looks like Stephen LeDrew is making a name for himself now as a Dion-slayer. His latest prediction that the Liberals are going down hard in this election has not been welcomed by his former Liberal friends.

 

[Mustapha]

I always knew, just knew, that a bow tie was an indicator of far deeper issues.

 

[voxpopulicosmicum]

What was it he once called (his own party's) Federal lobbyist registry? "Dumb as a bag of hammers", IIRC.

For a Liberal, he sure doesn't seem to like the Liberal Party.

 

[lordmandeep]

I heard a lot of the people involved with the old Chretien years (very successful years for the party), that they are angry that the party is gone to far to the left.

They want it back to the centre, and imo that would bring back a lot of moderate voters who are now voting Tory.

 

[kEiThZ]

I heard a lot of the people involved with the old Chretien years (very successful years for the party), that they are angry that the party is gone to far to the left.

They want it back to the centre, and imo that would bring back a lot of moderate voters who are now voting Tory.

Exactly. This is something many die-hard Liberals won't understand. Voters voted for the Liberals not because of their leftist platforms but because of their centre-right governance record. So they decided to screw all that and campaign even further on the left.....that'll show those centrist voters! It's starting to feel a little crowded on the left now....

 

[afransen]

Could someone illustrate to me how their platform is so leftist? It has been described as small-c conservative by pundits, if anything.

My impression of LeDrew is that he is a windbag that doesn't command a lot of respect from just about anyone.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Could someone illustrate to me how their platform is so leftist?

It's more that they're not concentrating on their previous success that is leading folks to feel that they've gone leftist. The Liberals under Chretien and Martin killed the deficits, paid down the debt, reigned in Quebec separatists, fought with success in the former Yugoslavia, invested heavily in the military, with promises of more (Martin's 2005 budget promised a nearly $13-billion boost in military spending for the next five years.), battled and won against inflation, and a whole host of successes.

Instead of talking about their right and centre successes, we've got some bookworm leader talking about the environment, ignoring the economy other than to complain that the other party would be worse, increasing (perceived) taxation, jumping to protect gala artists and talking up the hypothetical evils of the right wing. That's not a wining platform, especially after more than a decade of Liberal centralist success. Like it or not, the environment is a leftist issue.

 

[afransen]

But a tax shift away from income taxes toward consumption (via carbon) is quite conservative. I don't see the Green Shift as particularly environmental in focus. We'd need much higher prices to reduce emissions to a significant extent.

But. The shift would offer the kind of shift in incentives away from consumption and toward savings that we need. Canadians are loaded with debt, largely because consumption is encouraged and savings is discouraged--savings rates are at historical lows.

 

[Hydrogen]

But. The shift would offer the kind of shift in incentives away from consumption and toward savings that we need. Canadians are loaded with debt, largely because consumption is encouraged and savings is discouraged--savings rates are at historical lows.

You keep mentioning this, but the introduction of consumption taxes like the GST have not increased rates of savings. One could argued that tax shelters like RRSP's have done a better job for those who have taken advantage of them.

As for savings and debt, people will opt to pay the debt first.

 

[lordmandeep]

imo the Liberals should go to being the fiscal conservative/social justice types.


Most Canadians fit that political ideology...

 

[afransen]

Paying debt is savings.

The GST didn't really increase consumption taxes, as it replaced the Manufacturer Sales Tax.

Cheers...

 

[Hydrogen]

Paying the debt is paying the debt.

You are not being clear or honest when you employ the word savings.

I remember the Manufacturers Tax. Do you?

 

[afransen]

Paying the debt is paying the debt.

Thanks for that tautology.

You are not being clear or honest when you employ the word savings.

Umm, we're talking about the savings rate, right, in the context of economics? Reducing net debt is 'savings'. Unless you were talking about saving, like how Jesus saves? Sorry, I must have missed that turn in the conversation.

I remember the Manufacturers Tax. Do you?

Why do I get this weird sense that this is a petty rhetorical question...