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Promises, broken promises

There are Lies and Then There are Damn Lies

Today I nearly fell off my chair after visiting the federal Conservative website and reading a press release issued this week. The funniest part of the whole site (funny in a rather sad way) has to be the verbal diarrhea they espouse on a regular basis.

I have to admit to visiting various party sites on a somewhat regularly.  Not only is it good research into what these guys are up to, but it helps solidify my personal opinion of the total lack of credibility these guys have and the political crap they heap on the public with apparent glee.

On visiting the Conservative site earlier this week, I was taken aback by the fact that the site, at the time, prominently displayed no less than 6 large pictures of Stephane Dion.  But only 3 small pictures of the PM could be found after searching around the page. For a minute or so I thought I might have visited the wrong web site, but this was not the case as the sea of blue there indicated in no uncertain terms.

Mind you each of the Dion pictures was accompanied by very cutting and often inaccurate attack commentary. In fact a quick trip to the site’s press release page showed 16 anti-Dion releases but only 1 lonely pro-Conservative story. Doesn’t it say something about a party when it’s more concerned with trashing the opposition than highlighting its own merits? Then again, I guess you need to actually have some merits before you can brag about them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not a supporter of the Liberal party of Canada any more than I’m a supporter of the NDP, Conservatives or any other federal party. I’m more of a supporter of localized political groups who actually attempt to address REAL issues rather than those that turn everything into a political game and an opportunity for personal or electoral gain.

Sorry, I digress.

Speaking about issues, today’s Conservative news release really sparked my interest and I admit, more than a little ire as well.

A key section of the release reads as follows:

With his priorities clear, Prime Minister Harper has followed through on his promises. Whether by providing direct support for parents to help with child care, taking real action to get criminals off our streets or allowing the hard-working taxpayer to keep more of what they earn, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has proven that he is a man of his word. He believes that government works best when it delivers on its promises and only promises what it can deliver.

Well folks, I guess I stand corrected. It seems you don’t really need to have merits in order to brag about them.

I love the line, “…government works best when it delivers on its promises and only promises what it can deliver”

Really?

Why then did the Harper government promise never to tax income trusts and then cause billions of dollars in losses to investors when they did?

Why did Stephen Harper promise to remove non-renewable resource revenues from the equalization formula, but then back out on the promise and even deny he did so?

Why did Stephen Harper promise to station a 650-person rapid response battalion at 5 Wing Goose Bay and increase the military presence in St. John’s, only to do nothing of the sort?

Why did the Conservatives, while in opposition and on the election trail, push for a full inquiry into compensation for those affected by Agent Orange, fight to have custodial management put in place to protect Atlantic fish stocks and…

I could go on and on , although by now I believe I’ve made my point and most of you are probably already adding some of your own favorite broken promises to the list.

It’s one thing to have government spin doctors bend reality a little, we’ve all come to accept that as one of the realities we face, like it or not. It’s quite another for a party, especially a governing one, to present abosolute lies to the electorate on a regular basis.

There are those who will say that the great thing about a democracy is that the people get what they ask for by voting a party to power or voting them back out. The problem these days is that more often than not the public really has no idea who or what they are voting for, thanks to the regular diet of lies fed to them on a regular basis.

It makes me wonder just how much control the public really has over the direction of the country or if Canada is really a democracy after all.  And that my friends is NO laughing matter.