Harper promises no new taxes or spending cuts. He's lying...AGAIN

There's a very simple method for those who wish to discern whether or not our Prime Minister is lying, watch his lips. When they're moving, be on guard.

To be fair Stephen Harper is far from being the first Prime Minister to say one thing and then do another. Pierre Trudeau ridiculed wage and price controls, then implemented them. Brian "Brown Bag" Mulroney dismissed the idea of pursuing a free trade agreement with the U.S. before being elected and negotiating one. And of course Jean Chretien feigned amnesia about his repeated pledges to axe the GST.

With Stephen Harper there are a number of choices which spring immediately to mind when it comes to Olympic flip flopping. There's the promise he made in the last election but one (I think it was a couple weeks back) when he said a Conservative government would "never" tax income trusts. Then there was his promise backed up by legislation to eliminate snap election calls, a promise he broke when he last sent us to the polls, (that was a few days ago if memory serves).

And then of course there was his pledge not to stack the Senate with partisan cronies...a promise broken with flair as Mr. Harper unseated the likes of the aforementioned Messieurs Trudeau, Mulroney and Chretien to become Canada's all time patronage champ.

Apologists for the Prime Minister are quick to offer up excuses or course.

Finance minister Jim Flaherty had no choice but to tax income trusts they say, because leaving them tax exempt would have decimated the federal treasury. In other words Paul Martin's Liberals were telling the truth while Harper lied to garner votes among seniors worried about protecting their retirement nest eggs. Well done, it helped give Pinocchio the keys to 24 Sussex.

As for last year's (yes, I know it wasn't a few days ago) snap election call, that was necessary because parliament was dysfunctional according to the spin masters. This despite the fact that the Liberals under former leader Stephane Dion nearly set a Guinness Book world record for sitting on their collective hands. Last year's election was a blatantly obvious attempt to attain majority status, to rid Harper of the need to be conciliatory...something he's horrible at.

He had to break his promise not to stack the senate because...uhm, well everyone else does it. Assurances that there would be no recession and no deficit, well...even if CTV's Craig Oliver saw it coming...uhm, nobody else did...and like things are really really bad.

Anyone who believes Stephen Harper please sign a copy of the Fixed Election law and have Mike Duffy deliver it to me.

While past performance isn't always an indicator of future results, it can be used as a pretty decent measuring stick when trying to decide if Harper is telling the truth or just piling on more lies in an effort to win votes. The big lie now is that the Conservatives will be able to bring government revenues back into balance without any funding cuts or tax increases. Anyone who believes Stephen Harper please sign a copy of the Fixed Election law and have Mike Duffy deliver it to me. I'll redeem it for a 100 units in a tax exempt Income Trust.

The Liberals under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin were able to finally slay the deficit beast by slashing transfer payments to the provinces, transfers that pay for things such as Health Care. They also reneged on the promise to eliminate the GST, using the windfall from a booming economy to swell government coffers into repeated surpluses.

I doubt Harper would endorse major tax increases, but I can certainly envision the Conservatives taking a scythe to a whole host of government programs...the "socialist" ones Harper so detests. Health Care? Harper has never been a big fan of socialized anything, and that includes medicine. Programs to help the poor and needy? Get a job, or a better one.

Just give Harper his coveted majority and you won't recognize this country...of course if you're among Canada's most wealthy, you probably won't mind.

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