Beyond The Commons

Beyond The Commons

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

Expert commentary

by Aaron Wherry on Thursday, June 24, 2010 5:32pm - 26 Comments

The text of a press release received a few hours ago.

Karl Rove is coming to Toronto to a closed address for the G-20 Summit for Faith and Business Leaders at 7:00pm.  However at 6:40 Mr. Rove will speak to the press commenting on the G-20 and the moral question of massive spending and debt.

Organizer Charles McVety says “in 18 months the G-20 leaders have wasted 7 trillion dollars of stimulus spending, much of it on frivolous agenda driven projects.  If you stack one hundred $100 bills, they would be a half an inch high.  $7 trillion dollars is a stack of $100 bills, five hundred thousand miles high, sky high reckless spending to the moon and beyond.”

Co-organizer Brian Rushfeldt, Canada Family Action, says “massive immoral debt mandated by G-20 leaders is fiscal child abuse of future generations and maternal exploitation placing women and children in financial peril.” Rushfeldt goes on to express concern that “forcing Canada to abide by G-20 and United Nations social policy undermines Canadian democracy and sovereignty.”

No doubt Mr. Rove has many questions to answer on this subject, the administration he advised having helped add something like $4.3-trillion to the American debt.

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  • Dale

    RUMOUR: McVety has signed onto the Jason Kenney leadership campaign, who is acting as a bridge between backroom republicans, and who they view to be the "future" of the Conservative movement in Canada.

    • AJT

      No rumour about it. Mr. Harper for all he has done for us, is done. Like a good football game, we had a nice wild play action with Mr. Manning that got us a few first downs but only so far up the field so we had to punt. The Liberals fumbled and we ended up with the ball inside the 30 yard line. Mr. Harper has been able to bring the ball inside the 10 yard line. But then the defence is letting him get sacked further and further behind the line with the goal further and further away.

      Time for a new QB to get us over the line for the score. And the only way to do that is with a core line of strong and hard right side of the field.

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/DZulu Dave Z.

        I may be misreading your post, but the idea that a majority has eluded the Conservatives because they are not far enough to the right is risible.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/tobyornotoby tobyornotoby

    So, help me out here Family Action Coaltion, does that mean that cutting corporate taxes and the GST rate are child abuse too? (Cause they had just a little something to do with the deficit)

    • TedTylerEzro

      If it isn't accompanied by cutting spending, then yes.

      You can have a overwhelmingly large nanny state, or a smaller more libertarian government, and we can disagree what is the happy medium. But certainly we can all agree that we have to pay for whatever style of government we choose.

      • http://intensedebate.com/people/PhilCP Phil

        You can have a overwhelmingly large nanny state, or a smaller more libertarian government, and we can disagree what is the happy medium. But certainly we can all agree that we have to pay for whatever style of government we choose.

        A most excellent point!

  • Emily

    What?? Who the hell invited him?

    Rove is an atheist, not to mention a big spender, and the idea of him lecturing to people of different cultures on financial morality….is absurd.

  • http://www.dangardner.ca Dan Gardner

    Aaron, you just don't understand. Since Keynesian economic theory calls for governments to massively over-spend and rack up debt during recessions while cutting spending and paying down debt when times are good, and since Keynes was Lucifer's right-hand man, it follows that governments should massively over-spend and rack up debt when times are good while cutting spending and paying down debt during recessions. Perfectly logical, really.

    • Greg

      Quite so.

    • TedTylerEzro

      I never would have figured you for a Keynesian, Mr. Gardner. Particularly in these days of the global economy and high personal and public debt. I figured you to be more grounded than that.

      • http://www.dangardner.ca Dan Gardner

        Why am I a Keynesian? Is it that I failed to spit after mentioning the man's name? Or are the only choices on offer in your Manichean restaurant Keynesianism and voodoo economics? Really, you should expand the menu.

        • TedTylerEzro

          I don't believe in voodoo economics either.

          But even tepid support for Keynesian economics is folly.

          • Wallace Cleaver

            Care to explain why you think that?

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/BGLong BGLong

    Maybe there are some economists ( there are so damn many of them ) who find inspiration for
    their views in the bible. Maybe some of them read the New Testament. Who knows ?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/BGLong BGLong

      I have this as my desktop ….

      http://www.g20.ca/

      • kathryn c

        McVety scores another domain name – an old trick of his, is it not?

  • Emily

    Well Muslims don't allow interest, and there will be many of them at the summits.

    Why on earth did religion have to be dragged into this?

  • Anon 001

    And at 6:45 PM, John Baird will speak to the press about the importance of civility.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/tedbetts tedbetts

    McVety just lost his ability to censor Canadian art by calling Harper's legacy a “frivolous agenda driven project" and calling Harper's record spending “massive immoral debt" which is "fiscal child abuse of future generations and maternal exploitation placing women and children in financial peril.”

    “in 18 months the G-20 leaders have wasted 7 trillion dollars of stimulus spending, much of it on frivolous agenda driven projects. If you stack one hundred $100 bills, they would be a half an inch high. $7 trillion dollars is a stack of $100 bills, five hundred thousand miles high, sky high reckless spending to the moon and beyond.”

  • tedbetts

    Rushfeldt may be genuinely concerned that global economic action "undermines Canadian democracy and sovereignty”, but it is Harper who said "When it comes to the G20 and the global economy in particular, I've encouraged all countries to bring an attitude of enlightened sovereignty to the table, meaning, yes, we’re all capable of acting on our own but we should understand that in a global economy, if we act together, the results will be better for all of us than if we act individually. In fact, the International Monetary Fund has a report out showing exactly that, that if countries co-ordinate their policies across the G20, an act according to the global needs, we will all be better off. Whereas if we all follow our own individual dictates according to what we think the national read of the economy is the globe as a whole will be worse off. So that’s the attitude I'm encourage."

    Who knew Harper was an international socialist.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Geiseric Geiseric

    A ticket to that and a nickel bag, I'd probably die laughing.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

    "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
    — Sinclair Lewis

  • gord83

    Karl Rove? Why would anyone in their right mind even listen to this idiot?

  • Wallace Cleaver

    If you stack one hundred $100 bills, they would be a half an inch high. $7 trillion dollars is a stack of $100 bills, five hundred thousand miles high, sky high reckless spending to the moon and beyond.”

    Unless my math is wrong, I believe it's *only* 5 thousand miles high.

    100$*100 bills=10,000 dollars per half-inch, 20,000 per inch, 1,267,200,000 per mile, or 6,336,000,000,000 dollars in 5000 miles.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

    who cares what it actually is, all that matters is the hyperbole.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/PhilCP Phil

    …which then leads to….if you give 'em twenty thousand dollars they'll take one billion, two hundred and sixty-seven million, two hundred thousand dollars.

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