Conservative 'Harpocrisy' Dominates First Session of New Government

OTTAWA – Today marks the wrap-up of 11 weeks of broken Conservative election promises and regressive policies that will hurt Canadians, Liberal Opposition Leader Bill Graham said.
“The first session of the 39th Parliament was a demonstration of the stunning ‘Harpocrisy’ of this government,” Mr. Graham said.

“What we ended up with was a government intent on raising taxes, turning their backs on the environment, abandoning farmers, softwood lumber producers, working parents and Aboriginals, and breaking one election promise after another regarding accountability and transparency in government.

“What was shocking to us was the extent to which Prime Minister Harper will go to try and win votes at the expense of what’s best for Canadians. All Canadians should be very concerned that this is just the beginning of the end of a strong, progressive Canada if this government is allowed to continue down this path,” he said.

The hypocritical and regressive actions taken by Mr. Harper’s government this session include:
enticing former Liberal David Emerson to join his cabinet just days after the Jan. 23 election, after condemning the practice of floor-crossing;

appointing campaign organizer Michael Fortier to the Senate so he could sit in Cabinet, after years of calling for an elected Senate;
implementing an Accountability Act that will actually increase government secrecy and make it less accountable, after running an election campaign on openness and accountability in government;
muzzling his caucus and shunning the media in order to restrict the flow of information to the public;
recruiting lobbyists to government positions, continuing to allow former Conservative staffers to register as lobbyists and sitting idly by while Cabinet ministers reward their friends with government contracts;
trying to push through a highly politicized deal on softwood lumber that industry representatives oppose because it puts more than $1 billion into the hands of American lumber competitors, after campaigning for years against any deal that does not return 100 per cent of duties paid to the U.S.;

ignoring expert opinions on taxes, the environment and crime in favour of politically expedient policies that will do nothing to help low- and middle-income Canadians, decrease greenhouse gas emissions or lower crime rates; and
presenting a budget that increases income taxes, cuts billions of dollars from social programs and contains no vision for the economic progress of our nation, despite having inherited the strongest financial position of any incoming government in Canadian history.

“Mr. Harper and the Conservatives claim to represent average Canadian families, but his first Budget failed them, stripping them of an economic plan for the future, a national child care program, the Kelowna Accord for Aboriginal Canadians, and the income tax cuts brought in by the Liberal government, which would have put money back in the pockets of working families,” said Mr. Graham.

The first Conservative budget:
denied Canadians $5 billion in funding for a national early learning and child care program which was supported by agreements with all 10 provinces;
cancelled $5.1 billion over five years for Aboriginal education, housing, health and economic development, replacing this with $450 million over 2 years – about nine Conservative cents on the Liberal dollar; nullified the tax cuts for low-income Canadians announced by the Liberal government last year by increasing the lowest income tax bracket to 15.5 per cent from 15 per cent;

rejected the Kyoto Protocol, the Climate Fund to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Partnership Fund to support large environmental projects, the expansion of the Wind Power Production Incentive and the establishment of a Renewable Power Production Incentive to encourage clean, renewable electricity production;
eliminated a total of $3.11 billion over 5 years in direct investment for post-secondary education in favour of a mere $175 million per year in tax credits that do nothing to improve access, given the fact that students pay very little tax to begin with; and

cut more than $2.1 billion over five years to increase support for granting councils, the Indirect Costs of Research program, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and replaced it with $100 million per year.
“Mr. Harper’s government is moving Canada backward with its regressive and hypocritical policies,” said Mr. Graham. “The Liberal Opposition is providing a voice for progressive values and we will continue to work to ensure that the wants and needs of all Canadians are respected.”