The Mean-spirited Tory Spending Cuts

'Mean-spirited'. That's what Liberal finance critic John McCallum called the Tory spending cuts and Finance minister Jim Flaherty today in parliament. Conservative MP Ken Epp then whined in a point of order after Question Period that the use of that phrase was 'unparliamentary'. Get real. What's unparliamentary is the fact that the Conservatives prefer to yell and scream in response to opposition questions on a daily basis. Sanctimonious, self-righteous bullies.

Overall, the question and answer exchange today was a bit more toned down than the previous day's affair until the president of the treasury board finally (and predictably) lost it when he shouted at the the opposition, 'That's not your money. It's the taxpayer's money'. Yes, Baird, that's right. And it's not your money either which you can use to further the aims of stiff-necked uber-conservatives like the so-called REAL Women of Canada who believe a woman's place in society is to stay barefoot and pregnant while making lovely meals in the kitchen for her hard-working man who deserves the subservience of an obedient wife - especially after a tough day of defending their marriage from the threats of teh gay.

This crop of conservatives should simply change their party's name again to CRAP - the acronym they had when the chose the name the Canadian Reform Alliance Party - because that's exactly what their attitudes and policies are: CRAP. Their social conservative spending cuts would make Jerry Falwell proud. They've crapped all over women's rights by cutting money for the Status of Women Agency. They've crapped on aboriginal health by slashing money from the initiative to reduce their tobacco use. They've crapped on Canadian culture by lowering the funding of Canada's museums. They've crapped directly on the youth of this country by cutting funds for youth employment strategies. They've crapped on the poor by not only denying them financial help to fight constitutional challenges in court but by also ending millions of dollars of support to much-needed spending in Canada's volunteer sector.

And they had the audacity to stand up and cheer when they announced the $13 billion surplus at the end of Question Period when that surplus was the result of the former Liberal government's fiscal policies - not theirs. Still, they somehow seem to believe that they are actually the cause of this extra money in the government's coffers.

Well, they'd better take every chance they have to delusionally enjoy this little high they're on because their social policies will definitely tank them when they're up for re-election, which can't come quickly enough. Minority governments last, on average, only 18 months. And that, thankfully, tells us that next summer we'll be able to kick these repressive, controlling whiners right out of Ottawa or at least back to the opposition benches - where they belong.