Flaherty Talks Election, Failing to Note That It was Pressure from the "Coalition" That Resulted in Canada's Recovery Program

Are we headed for a fall election? The chattering classes seem to think that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's speech yesterday laid down the gauntlet.

"They're off," Manon Corneiller writes in Le Devoir.

The Globe and Mail begins its story: "Its campaign promise to kill the long-gun registry almost certain to be thwarted Wednesday, the Harper government has begun laying the groundwork for the next election – casting political rivals as a threat to Canada’s economic recovery."

But as Corneiller noted this morning on Radio-Can, it's interesting that Flaherty's 2008 budget speech, delivered just before the financial meltdown, had nothing about approaching doom, nor about how to save the farm. It took the threat of a coalition from the Libs, NDP and BQ before he and Harper realized that economic action had to be taken.

It was, thank goodness, and Canada has done better than many other countries. Our social safety net, tattered as it is, has helped since it contributes to maintaining purchasing power. So has the relative health of the banking system. But for Flaherty and the Cons to take credit for the recovery program is nonsense--and also dishonest.

But then what do you expect from the people who want to do with the long form census, in large part because they don't want to be confused by the facts.