Harper delivered his second probationary report to the opposition parties, called the Second Economic Report, and managed to grab headlines by saying that his government was doing a wonderful job and had managed to commit 80% of the funding required for the 2009/2010 year.
"This report indicates that 80 per cent of the measures are either flowing, or there are commitments in place that will allow the funds to flow to specific projects and initiatives."
And, what is more, Harper's guys have moved heaven and earth to get the money out of the door and into the economy, as Table 1.2 claims:
"Canada’s Economic Action Plan is designed to get stimulus out as quickly and effectively as possible in order to have the maximum impact on jobs. That is why the Government moved aggressively to deliver budget spending up to 14 months faster than the usual process."
Remember the NDP-LPC coalition which forced Harper's hand?
"The Liberal leader announced he’ll move an amendment to the budget which will require the government to table three detailed progress reports to Parliament starting in March. If the amendment passes, Liberals will not vote against the budget. But Ignatieff said the Liberals are prepared to defeat the government later should any of the progress reports show that the Tories had failed to implement some budget measures or that the budget wasn’t working.
“We are putting this government on probation,” he told a news conference. “Each of these reports will be an opportunity to withdraw our confidence should the government fail Canadians.”
Ignatieff said the threat of a Liberal-NDP coalition forced the government to include $40 billion worth of stimulative measures in the budget; measures the Tories don’t really believe in.
“And now the job of a responsible Opposition is to hold them to their word, to force them to deliver and, if they don’t deliver, to replace them.”
The amendment specifies dates for tabling the status reports — March 26, June 23 and Sept. 10. They are timed to coincide with supply bills, which are automatically considered confidence votes."
More specifically, Ignatieff said he would be watching Harper's Tories "like a hawk."
What exactly was Ignatieff going to be watching like a hawk?
In Ignatieff's words:
“We will be watching like hawks to make sure that the investments Canadians need actually reach them,” Ignatieff said.
Ignatieff put his finger on the issue: what Canadians needed was cash – hard cash – actually flowing into projects which created jobs.
Not promises.
Not "commitments to fund", which is what Harper's report card talks about.
Let's match Harper's report card against what Ignatieff says was obtained from him.
Note that Ignatieff said the NDP-LPC coalition "forced the government to include $40 billion worth of stimulative measures in the budget; measures the Tories don’t really believe in."
Now let's take the actual progress to date – the amount "committed" in Harper's report card.
That's $13.2 billion (if we exclude the GM/Chrysler rescue package). Check it yourself – go to Table 1.3 on page 14 of the report card.
And that makes only 33% "committed" of the total amount of $40 billion that Ignatieff was so pleased by.
Now, ask yourself: if your kid came home and started crowing about how well he or she had done because they scored overall 33%, what would you say?
"Nice job, here's some cash, off to celebrate you are!"
Or would you say: "That's just not good enough. That is a failing grade. You are grounded."
Let's see if any of the Bloc, NDP or Liberal parties will give Harper a pass on his 33% score.
