The Tribute to Paul Martin
I got to watch part of Paul Martin's speech while read the whole transcript and on the whole I thought it was a good speech. While he took some time to take a few swipes at the Conservatives, most of the speech was on his accomplishments, that of the party, the country, and the future ahead. His talk about his success in terms of turning massive deficits into massive surpluses is something worth bringing up since this what initially made him so popular in 2003, yet today is largely forgotten. For all his difficulties as prime-minister, he was definitely a great finance minister, in fact in my opinion the best one Canada has ever seen. It is not those who make the easiest decisions I look up in, but those who face the most difficult circumstances and overcome them as Paul Martin did. While as prime-minister many think he did a poor job, I was glad to hear him focus on some of the achievements be it the new deal with the cities, childcare, and the Kelowna Accord. The common thread here is these were all achieved through teamwork with the provinces and major players. This is what a successful prime-minister just as a successful CEO requires and quite a contrast with our current government who likes to dictate things and not work with others. I also thought it was interesting that the areas he attacked the Conservatives on were all cases of the Conservatives undoing everything the Liberals did. I have sometimes felt Conservative actions were based mainly on undoing every achievement of the Liberals so they can paint themselves as a party of delivering results and the Liberals as ditherers when in fact they weren't. Hopefully Martin's style of leadership will continue under whoever our next Liberal leader is.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 7:59 PM
13 Comments:
A good article..thanks. When you listen to the Cons. and especially in ques. period, the Libs did nothing in 13 years. They, the Cons., would not be in such a good financial picture right now to be able to do all the cut taxes they want to do without P. Martin and how he had the difficult time of reducing and getting rid of the deficit which meant that many programs had to suffer. Listen to the N.D.P. and Martin should have gone into further deficit in order to finance programs they wanted. The n.d.p. are stale, and the Cons. are out to dismantle many of the programs that make Canadian a caring and compassionate country we are. They have absolutely no vision for the country other than tax cuts i.e. GWB and Law and Order. We deserve better.
Oauk Martin did a great job...who was shackled with a lying opposition that every time he tried to open his mouth called him either a ditherer or a lying thief..I think he will be remembered as a GREAT Prime Minister and I thank him for the raise in the seniors' pension..the balance of which we will receive in Jan07..p.s. not like Bob RaE WHO took money away from disability and pensions in ontario...
Sheilabee60 - the Conservatives are ideologues who make decisions based on ideology rather than common sense, much like the NDP although on the other side of the spectrum. Hopefully their time in government is nearing the end.
Anonymous - Paul Martin wasn't perfect but he was a better prime-minister than our current one.
Oauk Martin did a great job...who was shackled with a lying opposition that every time he tried to open his mouth called him either a ditherer or a lying thief
You want just one example of a Martin lie?
Here you go.
Seen any menacing troops with guns outside your window since Harper took over? No?
Andrew Coyne had his number.
I think he will be remembered as a GREAT Prime Minister
Huh? Great? Unbelievable.
Considering the fact that pretty much all the Liberals I know told me repeatedly how Paul Martin walked on water before he became PM, even they would concede he was a huge disappointment.
I told them he would crash and burn. He did.
Some of them are now Conservatives by the way.
Miles is of course the exception to the rule. He worshipped Paul Martin even when he was a Tory.
I thank him for the raise in the seniors' pension..the balance of which we will receive in Jan07
Do you thank him for the record cuts to transfers for health care, post-secondary education and social services? Do you thank him for the doubling of medical waiting times and higher tuition that resulted?
And it was rather ironic to hear him talk about welcoming immigrants, when he imposed a $900+ head tax on them.
Oh, right, he needed it to balance the budget right? Then you think he would have removed it once Ottawa started running massive surpluses.
But of course, he didn't even promise to do so until his ass was on the line during the last election. Almost as desperate as his notwithstanding clause gambit.
And I think this quote summed up the value of a Paul Martin promise:
"Screw the Red Book... Don't tell me what's in the Red Book. I wrote the goddamned thing. And I know that it's a lot of crap."
Brandon - I said Paul Martin was the greatest finance minister ever, not greatest prime-minister ever, although I would take him as PM any day over Harper.
Harper's hidden agenda hasn't fully come yet, but he is without question the most right wing PM canadians have ever seen.
As for some Liberals now supporting the Tories, that was only temporarily, most realize they made a mistake while considering Harper got than the 2000 and 97 PC/Reform/Alliance combined vote I am not alone at all since many former PCs now support the Liberals and even many who voted Conservative in January have switched. Harper is offside with most Canadians, while the Liberals are onside on most issues, they are just too arrogant sometimes, but I feel very confident the Liberals will defeat Harper in the next six months who will go down as Canada's worst prime-minister. I never thought a day would come where I would no longer consider Trudeau the worse PM ever, but it has happened.
considering Harper got than the 2000 and 97 PC/Reform/Alliance combined vote I am not alone at all since many former PCs now support the Liberals and even many who voted Conservative in January have switched.
1) A lot of the old PC vote DID go Green, and a lot did stay Conservative...I'd say those two avenues were explored far more frequently than voting Liberal.
2) Many who voted Conservative in January have switched? I can't see much evidence of this. The only people I hear complain immensely about Harper are people who wouldn't have voted for him if they were given a million dollars to do so.
As for some Liberals now supporting the Tories, that was only temporarily
Not with the ones I know.
BC Tory - You are right a lot mainly at the grassroot rather than ones in the hierarchy of the old PCs went Green Party.
Brandon - I know of few Liberals who who have switched to the Tories and the few who did were people who were liberal when younger, but have become more conservative as they age.
the few who did were people who were liberal when younger, but have become more conservative as they age.
Being in your mid-to-late 20's isn't exactly old, is it?
Brandon - Who are you talking about since all past Liberals I know who are now voting Tory are over 40 and haven't voted Liberal for a while.
You know some of them.
Brandon, not true I had to call 911 tonight for a family medical emergency and a military guy was riding around with the paramedics.
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