Federal government needs balance, not rigid right-wing dogma
With last week's unwelcome and unsolicited comments from MP Jim Flaherty on the Ontario provincial budget scene, I was left with this incredible feeling of deja vu.
Unfortunately, it was not at all a nice feeling but rather a sick feeling akin to those that I used to experience when Flaherty was the finance minister and Mike Harris was our premier.
Thankfully, Flaherty's budget-making days for the province of Ontario are over. Somebody, perhaps Prime Minister Stephen Harper, needs to remind Flaherty of that reality. Doesn't Flaherty and the rest of the team of recycled Ontario Harris cronies have their hands full playing leading roles in Ottawa?
I believe that the last federal election proved that most Ontarians were not fooled by the thin veil of conservatism cloaking Harper, Flaherty and the rest of the Reform troopers. We in Ontario know too well what would happen to our country if the Reform Party (yes the Reform Party, let's call it what it is) ever won a majority government in this country. It wouldn't take long (and some would argue it has already begun) before the Reformers seriously began dismantling our institutions and tearing away at our social values.
I appreciate that as in life, timing in politics is everything. Hopefully the right time is soon approaching for Liberal leader Stephane Dion and the Liberals to "grit" their teeth and join the other parties of the opposition to defeat the government.
Our national government needs balance and a flexible moderate approach, not rigid right-wing dogma. This is one Canadian that does not want to do the "Time Warp" again.
Dave Arnold
