The Yin……….

Hysterical, hysterical federal Conservative anti-Mulcair fear mongering.

Or, when you don’t want the public to pay attention to your fiscal and policy debacles, point your finger elsewhere and scream FIRE!

Adding irony to the hysterical black humour of the Conservative’s American style hysterical  fear mongering attack ads is the fact that, as this latest Conservative “look out – it’s the Bogyman’ fear mongering campaign was getting underway, the federal Conservative finance minister was announcing that this year’s deficit would be at least $5 billion higher than the Conservatives had previously guessed.

Listening, truly listening, [with the thinking inherent in true listening] to the federal Conservative ads designed to stampede Canadians into hysterical panic over a – potential – $20 billion NDP carbon tax, provides evidence of the level of hysteria, panic and fear the Conservatives feel lest Canadians begin to scrutinize the actual outcomes of Conservative policies.

I say ‘potential’  tax because the fact is that while a carbon tax is part of the NDP platform, the NDP have no plan or course of action laid out to implement a carbon tax; much the same way that, while a balanced budget is part of the Conservative platform, the Conservatives have no plan or course of action laid out to achieve a balanced budget. Which is why the Conservative’s mythical future date for achieving a balanced budget continually moves farther and farther into the future.

The question of whether we can afford Mulcair and the NDP becomes moot when you consider the actual financial ‘achievements’ of the Conservative government.

A Conservative government that a few short years after inheriting a $14 billion a year surplus and a federal deficit reduced to $457.6 billion by the actions of the prior Liberal government, has rocketed the federal deficit past the $600 billion mark on the last weekend of November 2012. A precipitous climb with no trustworthy evidence to suggest the Conservatives over promised, under delivered, balanced budget will ever materialize under the direction of a Conservative government.

The reality is that the reasons for Canadian hysteria, panic and fear lie in the behaviours and policies of the federal Conservatives.

The un-spun Reality is that we cannot afford Harper’s Conservatives.

We just cannot afford them.

……and the Yang.

Pray that Clark is Lying.

If Christie Clark is actually serious about balancing the budget next year, come hell or high water, it is time to consider voting green or to run for the legislature as an independent.

The right always likes to trot out the bogyman of irresponsible NDP spending to scare voters as is currently happening in Ottawa.

And while Adrian Dix has demonstrated a worrisome lack of understanding of, or connection to, the financial realities of the province and its citizens Premier Clark’s promise to balance the budget next year borders on the insane.

Insane: utterly senseless: an insane plan.

Consider these givens: the 2012/13 budget called for expenditures of $43,869,000; the deficit for 2012/13 has been revised upwards to $1,470,000 which is 3.4% of the budget; the rise in the deficit is mainly a result of falling provincial revenues, revenues that are realistically not going to recover for the 2013/14 budget year; the promises Finance Minister Mike de Jong has made concerning the return to the PST means provincial sales tax revenues will suffer a significant reduction next year (on top of the $300 million HST repayment to Ottawa); the cost to provide the same services next year as were provided this year will be higher – particularly health costs which are rising faster than costs in other areas; the rationing of mental health services has already resulted in the deaths of British Columbians as a result of the lack of sufficient services; the increases in Justice costs (police, incarceration etc) will necessitate cutting more funds from the rest of the budget.

Balancing the budget for 2013/14 will require cutting 3.4% (+) from next year’s budget.

Given the realities of the way the province spends its money most, if not all, of the cuts will have to come from healthcare and education.

Yes you could make cuts to social services, family services and related programs…..but the hard facts are that cuts in those areas do not result in any savings. Rather they result in higher costs to the government in other areas of the budget such as Justice.

Trying to avoid cuts to health and education by making cuts in other areas, areas that tempt politicians and the public because they seem ‘easier’ than cuts to healthcare and education, will inevitably force even deeper cuts to be made to education and health.

Given the level of wilful denial, of self imposed blindness, embraced by both voters and politicians in British Columbia –  Pray that Clark is Lying.