Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

'Dumb'

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, July 10, 2009 3:23pm - 12 Comments

The Prime Minister apparently thinks little of the parliamentary budget officer he hired.

But on Friday, Harper ridiculed the suggestion that the government would need to slash spending or boost taxes to balance its budget when the economy recovers. ”We will not start raising taxes and cutting programs. That’s a very dumb policy and, to the extent, frankly, that the parliamentary budget officer suggested it, it’s a dumb position,” he said.

The Liberal press office was quick this afternoon to point out that it was also Conservative MP Brad Trost, in explaining himself to the Star-Phoenix yesterday, who said, “I’m a fiscal conservative so I’ve been urging reductions all across the board on all sorts of issues, not just on heritage funding.”

Tags: Brad Trost, Budget, deficit, economy, Kevin Page, recession, Stephen Harper

More by Aaron Wherry

http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

”We will not start raising taxes and cutting programs. That’s a very dumb policy and, to the extent, frankly, that the parliamentary budget officer suggested it, it’s a dumb position,”

Back in the day when Harper was a fiscal con, dumb would have been referring to raising taxes but nowadays he's probably got cutting programs in mind.

http://intensedebate.com/people/SeanStok SeanStok

Either way, bringing us back out of deficit sounds like a dumb thing to expect of Harper.

Anon

There you go, Aaron, with your consistency-watch again!

What's it going to take for your parl press guys to realize this guy is just flailing aimlessly, trying to throw as many things up in the air to see what sticks?
Loraine Lamontagne

How smart was it to project a small surplus last December, hum?
Darrell

If you asked Harper, in private, whether he thought Mr. Trost was a 'dumb' guy…I wonder what he'd say?
John D

If you can't cut a deficit by raising taxes or cutting spending, how exactly does one cut a deficit?

http://darcymeyers.wordpress.com Darcy Meyers

by under reporting/responding to inflation.
Anon

Magic, Harper style.

Tiamaat

Enron-style accounting and repeatedly selling major crown assets at imaginary values each year for a number of successive years – just like the Harris/Eaves Ontario governments did it. Now if only the Prime Minister could find someone familiar with those tricks…

http://intensedebate.com/people/Douglass Douglass

Is it too much to expect better from your Prime Minister?

http://intensedebate.com/people/jolyon jolyon

Yes. Harper seems to be about par for the course, far as I can tell.

http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

Prime Minister, take a week away from the cameras and microphones. You need some down time. Why don't you balance your family's cheque book, and derive some inspiration from that upon your return to work.