It seems pretty clear to anyone who can add and subtract – the PQ delivered a real whopper. Here's a quiz. The former government either was extraordinarily inept at accounting and basic arithmetic or it lied about the state of Quebec finances going into the election. You know the right answer.
Quebec's Auditor General sounded the alarm, saying the PQ's handling of the public purse was reckless. A deficit not of $2 billion, not of $3 billion but of almost $6 billion.
Not only did Marois and her gang lie about legal opinions for the charter, their true intentions for separation but they distorted the picture of public finances so much that a 3 year old could figure it out.
So it’s left to Carlos Leitao to try to clean up this mess. He is a world respected economist who at the beginning of his budget speech recognized the community which elected him, in their language.
“Before anything else we are MNAs representing those who elected us. My main duty is to represent those who elected me,” he said Tuesday.
Nice touch.
In this budget he is dipping his toe in the lake to see how cold the water is. The next budget will be the splash, the real wake up call. The challenges are many, and tough choices will have to be made.
I fear that labour unions and others emboldened by the students’ histrionics a couple of years will try the same tactics if their entitlements are touched.
And the cuts when they come must be felt right across the board. I could never see the logic of cheap daycare for wealthy Quebecers, nor the logic of having all those agencies and departments propping up the nanny state. OQLF, anyone?
This budget, part one, shows determination and courage. For decades, Quebec governments, both PQ and Liberals have spent like drunken sailors.
It’s time to sober up.
Now the merchants of separation got a reality check this week with the poll confirming what the election clearly showed.
Quebec youth aren't interested in sovereignty anymore and less interested in the PQ.
Call them Generation No but 18 to 24 year olds in Quebec are the Facebook and social media generation. They have a world view and English is seen is something valuable, not the tongue of oppressors. The PQ may turn out to be a party of a single generation. Rest in peace.
Seventy years old. A lifetime ago. 70 years ago, the Allied expeditionary forces landed on the beaches of France to liberate Europe from the tyranny and horrors of Nazi Germany.
In total, about 150,000 soldiers, including 14,000 Canadians from the third Canadian division took part in a moment of history that will live forever.
On that bloody day on Juno Beach, 340 Canadians died and hundreds more were injured. Canadians suffered the most causalities of any division in the British Army group.
Many of them were just kids.
But on that day it was the Canadians under heavy fire that had penetrated into France further anyone else.
We must always remember and always and honour the sacrifices of so many, because if we had not been successful on that day all those years ago, we could very well be living in a different world today. Freedom should never be taken for granted.
Lest we forget.
