Ignatieff: "There is now a record of fiscal incompetence and waste of money in the Harper government, which I think shreds their reputation for fiscal credibility."

According to this article by Jane Taber, Michael Ignatieff blasts the Tories for not being fiscally responsible. Although it is true the Tories brought a $54 billion deficit, Iggy's evaluative skills are proven to be less than stellar here because Canada has been praised the world over for its actions in the recession.

Here is a tally of the so-called wasteful spending to which the Leader of the Official Opposition is referring:

• spending money to ensure world leaders are protected at the G8 and G20;
• properly equipping our military; and,
• protecting law-abiding Canadians by building new jails.

It seems as though it may be true that Michael Ignatieff would simply rather have a chaotic state. Or maybe, if voted in as PM, when it turns to chaos, he'll use his conception of the PM's powers (as described in this entry) to make a police state. I really don't know. He must have a hidden agenda, after all.

While I would like to say that the overall cost for the G8 and G20 world leaders to come over for a visit seemed a little excessive at first (it cost roughly $1 billion), now, I think it was necessary given the abundance of "peaceful protesters" that showed up to give them a humble welcome (note the sarcasm).

Furthermore, the Liberals have never been good at equipping our military. Examples? Well, ever since Trudeau, the military spending has been cut drastically. Moreover, Paul Martin sent our poorly-equipped troops into battle in Afghanistan (I remember seeing our soldiers leaving in battledress designed for "temperate woodland" areas to go fighting in Afghanistan's arid mountains and the Sistan Basin, one of the driest regions in the world) and then threatened Canadians with this ad in the 2006 election that the then-Leader of the Official Opposition, Stephen Harper, "actually announced he [wanted] to increase military presence in our cities. Canadian cities. Soldiers with guns. In our cities. In Canada." It seems that the only equipment the Liberals want to give our Canadian Forces is a bad name. All this despite the fact that our chief of the air staff, Lieutenant-General André Deschamps, defended the purchase of the 65 new F-35 Lightning II jet fighters saying:

"If they can’t detect us and don’t know where we are [because the fighters are equipped with stealth technology], it dramatically changes their potential tactics. So it is a deterrent. (...) Nobody expects somebody to come in and roll ashore here in the next little while, (...) [but] it’s a question of being able to exercise your sovereignty."

I guess Lieutenant-General Deschamps doesn't know what he's talking about, at least that's what Ignatieff would have us believe.

Lastly, I would like to know what Michael Ignatieff would do with convicted criminals in this country if there is no room in the prisons. The way he describes the government's plan, it almost sounds like he's accusing the Prime Minister of enticing people to commit crime. I can assure you that that is not the case. People are committing crimes and the punishment is jail time. If there is no room in the jails, well, build more jails.

This isn't Field of Dreams. For prisons, the more appropriate quote would be "If you build it, they will not come" or at the very least, "If you build it, they will not want to come."

I sleep well at night knowing that convicted criminals aren't enjoying the same privileges that law-abiding citizens have because the latter actually deserve them.

At the end of Taber's article, Ignatieff is quoted mentioning an anecdote from his childhood:

“My mother used to tell a story about a report card she got back when I was in primary school, which said: ‘This boy plays well with other children.’ And she said that was the best thing she ever heard about me. She had heard a lot of bad things but that she thought was okay. He plays well with other children.”

That's cute... which is why it makes saying this so difficult, however, I hate to break it to you "Open Mike" Ignatieff, but your teacher probably wrote that on every student's report card.