fuck tories.
OTTAWA (CP) - Mean-spirited! Vindictive! Ideological!
The opposition hurled their best you're-so-insensitive insults at the Conservative government Tuesday in the aftermath of $1 billion in cuts to programs.
But that outrage is probably confined to the usual Tory critics, say observers. Conservative supporters, meanwhile, will embrace the "fat trimming."
Nearly every opposition question during question period in the House of Commons dealt with the cuts.
Opposition MPs pointed to a lost youth internship program, $5 million trimmed from Status of Women Canada, and cash cut from adult literacy programs. They decried slashes to legal aid for constitutional challenges and an aboriginal anti-smoking program.
"The Conservatives, in their style, decided to cut the fat. Young people, aboriginals, women - that's fat to the Conservatives," said NDP Leader Jack Layton.
"Why doesn't the prime minister hit his friends, like the big oil companies, instead of punishing those who need help the most?"
Said Liberal finance critic John McCallum: "This minority government cares only about its political base. . . . When will the finance minister do what is right for Canada and not what is right for the Conservative party?"
But that, say political observers, is precisely the point.
Canada writ large probably isn't paying close attention to the finely targeted cuts. And those who are taking note probably would never have voted Conservative anyway - or never have voted period.
An academic study of the 2004 election, for example, underlines that fewer aboriginals are voting, and Canadians in lower income brackets and young people generally turn up less often at the ballot box.
There's even a chance it will help the Tory cause, at the very least reaffirming the confidence of those in their support base.
Lisa Young, a political scientist at the University of Calgary who has tracked voting patterns, says many of the targeted programs were supported only by small groups of Canadians. There were no large cuts to social programs that would be widely noticed.
"The notion of running a lean government, paying down the debt, has a resonance with some of their potential voters - that's seen as a win," said Young.
"There's lots of people out there who think there's a lot of waste in government and if you're seen to be going after that, it's a good thing. I think if there's an electoral calculation, it's neutral or positive for the Conservatives."
Indeed, the Conservative message about the cuts was laced with references to helping "working families" and "taxpayers," versus "Liberal party lawyers" and "cronies"
"It's important that we look at the priorities of Canadian families, the priorities of health care, the priorities of ensuring that our communities are safe, the priorities of ensuring that there is really meaningful tax relief for senior citizens and working families throughout this country," said Treasury Board President John Baird.
Longtime Conservative watcher Faron Ellis at Alberta's Lethbridge College said the cuts constitute a bit of a quid pro quo for Tory supporters who have been waiting for signals that the government listened to their concerns.
He said some in the Conservative core, particularly in Western Canada, have begun to worry that too much time has been spent courting moderates and Quebecers.
"It's a return on investment for fiscal conservatives, and there's a great deal more upside in letting fiscal conservatives know they're still thought of and haven't been abandoned than there is in people being annoyed by this," Ellis said.
"Those people were going to be annoyed anyway and, if anything, you're taking away their ability to publicize their annoyance because they'll have less money."
But there could be a downside, argues Darrell Bricker of the polling firm Ipsos-Reid, who wonders whether the cuts will send alarm signals to voters the Tories are seeking out to build a majority.
"The bigger issue is whether or not this is seen by swing voters as the tip of the iceberg," Bricker said.
"If it is, then they'll be worried about the motivations of the government and what might be next."
Hmm. I guess wimmens and injuns best go back to our respective kitchens and reservations! Because obviously half of Canada's population and Canada's most vulnerable population dont matter.
Thanks Steve! Its always good to know your there representing my interests as a Canadian woman. Im totally not alienated by this!
Also Canada, which is a nation that revels in its multiculturalism should be doing more to end the destructive effects of post colonialism which are very present in the lives of our indigenous people.
EDIT: Funding for tourism has been cut, and thats going to hit my hometown hard. Because it is Niagara Falls.
fuck. the. tories.