Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Sole PC Leadership candidate embraces the bad ol' days
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| Manitoba PC Leadership Hopeful, Filmon cabinet minister, PC MLA, and former Alliance/CON MP Brian Pallister. Image Source: Winnipeg Metro |
Brian Pallister is a Manitoba PC Leadership candidate (the only one right now) and has a lengthy political career. He's been a PC MLA and member of Gary Filmon's cabinet and Alliance/CON MP. He's vowing to lead the PCs from a more hard right position. The Winnipeg Sun, of course, is gushing over the prospect.
In the Sun article he embraces Gary Filmon's demand chocking, job-killing austerity measures and touts himself as a "fiscal conservative". Reflexive fiscal conservatism, btw, usually indicates a rigid failure to accept macroeconomic realities, particularly during recessions.
The 1990s recession was severer and longer in Manitoba than in many other jurisdictions. The reflexive fiscal conservatism of Filmon caused him to cut spending even though government spending was necessary to keep demand afloat because "deficits are bad", regardless of context. This resulted in a pro-cyclical fiscal policy - putting downward pressure (through spending cuts and an expansion of goods taxed by the PST ) on consumer demand while the demand was already plummeting. There's a strong case to be made that this was what made Manitoba's downturn severer & longer than most of Canada.
If a second dip in the global economy occurs while Pallister's on the watch, watch out Manitoba. It could be the '90s all over again - or worse!
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