Help wanted: NDP finance minister, must be living

NDP Leader Jack Layton says there may be no one in his caucus who has experience in balancing government books but the New Democrats always have Tommy Douglas and former NDP Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow and Manitoba Premier Gary Doer.

Huh?

None of these guys are in the Layton caucus the last time anyone checked.

How the late Douglas, whose name Layton evokes at every opportunity, is going to help in these tumultuous economic time escaped many at a Vancouver press conference today.

"Tommy Douglas had only been a young member of Parliament for one term and then he became the premier of Saskatchewan for 17 years, brought in Medicare, balanced the budget every single year even though they started out with a horrific deficit."

"I can think of Roy Romanow who took over a a Conservative basket case of an economy in Saskatchewan and made the decisions to turn it around."

"I could go on. I could mention Gary Doer who's regarded by many as one of the most successful managers of budgets and policies in Canada."

That is a long way around of saying the NDP has no a natural choice for finance minister if the party was to ever form the government.

- Richard Brennan

Comments

[RGR]

Hi. I didn't realize (until today) that Mr. Dion has control of the world's markets and economy. He intends to impose a "carbon tax" (which will eliminate jobs) and create all those "other" jobs in Canada (I need one) and at the same time, do all those other things. I don't know his background and connections in the international arena but, he must have a big influence on the U.S. and International economy. How can this "politician", based in a "soveriegn Quebec", dictate to the world what should be done (without a majority government in soveriegn Canada). These politicos are, at most, amusing. I hope these "saviours" will look back on what they have said to the Canadian people when this farce is over, and apologize. I don't think that will happen. This has been an absolute joke. Vote wisely Canada! Know there is little that anyone in this country can do to change the tide of global financial panic.

[manny]

Richard,
Don't be so bitter that the Canadian public is finding ways to get their information and are forming their opinions via other outlets than the Toronto Star.

The point that Layton and the New Democrats and their activists is valid. If the MSM can tar Layton with the brush of bad NDP provincial governments and continue to say that they are fiscally irresponsible given the records of those governments than they get to show that it is only half (in fact more like a 1/4) of the story.

[Ed]

The only NDP government that ran any kind of serious deficit was Bob Rae's government in Ontario and a) He had to deal with a world-wide recession b) He had to deal with the loss of manufacturing jobs due to Mulroney's FTA and c) he's with your buddies in the federal Liberal caucus now. You can have him.

[Aurora]

NDP governments have balanced the books 47% of the time, while Conservatives have only done so 35% and Liberals 21%. Most NDP governments follow certain financial principles - put more money into the hands of small business and people with low and average incomes, and that money goes directly back into the economy. Conservatives and Liberals put money into big corporations and the rich through tax cuts and can only hope that trickle-down will happen, but there are no guarantees - the big guys are just as likely to invest out of Canada, including jobs.

Conservative policies, like Republicans - tax cuts for big corporations and the banks, resistance to regulation, and excessive spending, especially on the military - are decreasing our economic cushion and thus our ability to protect our people from the impact of downturns in the economy.