This story in the Star is troubling because it does ring true.
In spite of the fact that the Liberal Party has a consistent history of sensible spending -- and the Conservatives don't -- the Liberals get a rap for being "tax & spend".
Oddly we see the same thing in the US -- Bush was terrible for the economy but Democrats are still accused of spending like drunken sailors (note, that is a slur on drunken sailors, because when they spend wildly they are spending their own money -- the attack on Democrats is that they are spending someone else's money):
OTTAWA–"My party has an unimpeachable record in fiscal responsibility," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff boasted yesterday in the Commons.
But that record hasn't sunk in with Canadians, according to Ian Brodie, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
In fact, Brodie told a conference of political scientists this week that the Liberal "brand" is not connected to good economic management in Canadians' minds – at least not in any voter research he's seen.
"The idea that the Liberal party has a brand as a fiscally responsible organization – I never once saw a single piece of market-research evidence to support that. Never," Brodie told the mostly academic crowd at Carleton University.
His glimpse into that voter research helps explains why Conservatives continue to hammer the Liberals as the party of high taxes and spending, believing it to be an area of vulnerability for their rivals.
Citing party data, public polls, advertising research, Brodie said the Liberals consistently rank last in terms of fiscal responsibility – regardless of the success enjoyed by Jean Chrétien and his finance minister, Paul Martin, in wrestling the deficit to a surplus in the 1990s.
"Even despite Martin's enviable track record as finance minister, Chrétien's enviable track record as prime minister, there you go," Brodie said, arguing that parties often end up with an image they don't want or even help to create.
Full story here: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/642305
8 comments:
Well perhaps that is because the Libs stole workers money paid into EI and used that to pretend they slew the deficit. Now that same slush fund - now missing in action - is much needed. Alas the libs under Martin's "slight of hand" which created the mess unemployed and those fearing unemployment find them selves in right now know that it was under the regressive liberals watch that this happen, and no, they really didn't act as god eco managers.
corrected
I wondered the same thing here - but like Jan I find the outrage a little rich considering the great effort the Libs have taken to promote the same false meme about the NDP.
I find it interesting and significant that only two provinces in Canada enter this latest economic storm with budget surpluses; one, Manitoba run by the NDP and another, Saskatchewan run by the NDP for more than a decade up until just last year.
Will you be musing about the completely unearned reputation for fiscal irresponsibility promoted against the NDP as well?
The NDP gets an even worse rap and yet has an enviable track record (indeed, the one obvious blotch on an otherwise impeccable record is now-Liberal Bob rae).
This study (if true) is saying party labels mean something. Conservatives are supposed to put a high priority on being fiscally conservative and aiming for small government. The most left-leaning parties are supposed to be focussed on government helping those who have less, which costs money and is not directly focussed on the businesses and industries which employ people - the revenue side. In Canada, the Liberals are the inbetween party which balances economic growth (i.e. being business/industry friendly) with helping people. Strikes me all this article is referring to is people's perceptions that this is how our parties stack up.
Competence in delivering on the party's priorities is a whole other matter and although parties can have track records, the current leader and team matters a lot. However, voters often don't have sufficient information to fully access this for the opposition parties.
The liberals are acting like a bunch of hypocrites here,when it come to the deficits.
First it was the liberals along with the Bloc and the NDP who forced the Conservatives in big spending in their last budget,remember?
They now have the guts to criticize the government for it. Not only they are not proposing anything to cut down on the deficit,they are actually demanding that the government should be spending even more. Talk about being hypocrite.
The liberals are now taking credit for eliminating the deficits of the 90's fine! First I don't even know how can Mr.Ignatieff even include himself in the process of eliminating the deficit when he wasn't even in the country,but that is another story all together.
Let us see how they did this,because they sure didn't use a magic wand.
1)They cut the number of weeks on E.I.
2)They gutted the military that made it a laughing stock on the world stage. We weren't able to transport our men and women from point A to point B without asking for help pathetic.
3)They cut the transfers to the provinces big time. Where they in return had to cut health care etc etc...
We are still suffering from those cuts today. It's funny that we don't see anyone on the liblogs or for that matter the liberals mentioning this humm! I wonder why!
I'm not going to mention the higher taxes.
The reason it hasn't sunk in with Canadians is that Liberals like you (and the media) over-amplify marginal voices like the NDP trolls and nobodies whining here by hosting their blather unchallenged or by not deleting it outright.
Sorry but Frenchie here will be offensive. It's because you have no culture of your own. Your culture is the culture of the United States. Your people listen to US news and read US papers. Americans were shocked to realize that Tony Blair was Labour, and I am sure most would challenge the fact that Australia's Howard was a Liberal. Canadians who speak English define the 'liberal' and 'conservative' terms from a US perspective.
On the other hand, French speaking Canadians see it exactly the other way. They define the term 'liberal' the way the French from France do, as in neo-liberalism = neo-con in the US. The term 'liberal' is definitely not associated with 'socialism' in French!
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