I enjoyed watching Keith Boag's report on CBC's The National last night about Bank of Canada Governor's Carney appearance before the House of Commons finance committee yesterday and subsequent reaction. Boag stated the obvious when it came to capturing the Liberals current unoriginal position on the economy that they have two conflicting perspectives. They supported the budget by voting for it. Yet they criticize it daily in the House of Commons. So again we are back to the question of what it is that Iggy actually stands for? And what would he actually do now?
On a positive note - and among steriod scandals, job losses, dark winter days, a crappy Ottawa Senators hockey team they are hard to find - this Newsweek article by CNN Host Fareed Zakaria is worth the read. Zakaria addresses the relative positive state of the Canadian financial system and economy in this turbulent world. This was acknowledged in the Globe business section yesterday but it deserves to be flagged again.
According to Zakaria - "If President Obama is looking for smart government, there is much he, and all of us, could learn from our quiet - OK, sometimes boring - neighbor to the north. Meanwhile, in the councils of the financial world, Canada is pushing for new rules for financial institutions that would reflect its approach. This strikes me as, well, a worthwhile Canadian initiative."
Let us not forget the opposition parties were opposed to many of the Harper government initiatives (Bank of Canada liquidity measures, capital market reforms) brought forward in 2007 and 2008 to protect the health of the Canadian financial system. The Harper government was looking forward then - a skill Ignatieff might like to acquire - as opposed to the nattering negativism of opportunistic opposition politics. These are extraordinary times; should we not expect something better?