Posted on 10/20/2006 4:49:13 AM PDT by fanfan
The good news for Bob Rae is that a recent Ekos Research poll shows he is the No. 1 choice of ordinary Canadians to lead the Liberal party into the next election, his popularity for the Grit job presumably strongest among Conservative voters.
The bad news for Bob is that the closer he gets to the Grit ring, the more his creepy critics are going to dredge up all that nasty stuff about how he almost drowned Ontario in a sea of red ink during his four years as NDP premier.
So far in the Liberal leadership race, Rae has admitted he came away from his turn at the helm of government with some valuable lessons, but regrets too few to mention.
"You'd be crazy not to learn lessons," Rae told the Globe's John Ibbitson recently. "But I'm also very proud of some of the things we did."
And so he should be proud, his accomplishments as premier showing clearly why this is the guy to run the country. For instance:
* Bob Rae made history as a man who gets things done. It took 40 years for mainly Conservative governments in Ontario to accumulate $20 billion in debt building the province's schools, hospitals, highways and hydro dams. It took Bob's NDP administration only four years to run up another $40 billion in red ink with little of enduring value to show for it at the end.
* Bob Rae is a visionary in health care. It was his NDP government that implemented the ingenious plan to cut medicare costs by reducing the number of doctors graduating from medical schools. Today, his legacy endures with a physician shortage that saves taxpayers a fortune by not having to treat millions of sick Canadians who can't find a family doctor.
* Bob Rae is a champion of the Canadian leisure industries. For the first time since the Great Depression of the 1930s, there were fewer people employed in Ontario industries when Rae left office than when he arrived.
* Bob Rae boldly stands up for Big Business and isn't afraid to stick it to the Little Guy, those whining small businesses that always have it easy. In the five years before Rae came to office, about 85% of all the net new jobs created in Ontario were in companies with fewer than 100 employees. Even in the 1980s recession when big companies shed more than 100,000 jobs, small businesses in the province grew by almost twice that number.
But not under Bob's watch -- a few major industries got huge bailouts, while all those mom-and-pop operations got ravaged, losing more than 100,000 jobs in the four years of NDP rule.
* Bob Rae understands what it means to be a taxpayer -- when economic times get tough, the tough get taxed, thereby ensuring the economy slows to the point where everyone gets screwed equally -- although some more equally than others. For instance, by the time the NDP left office, Ontario professionals and entrepreneurs earning more than $67,000 a year had the highest marginal tax rate in North America, and were ungratefully running for the border in droves.
* Bob Rae is a politician who never forgets his promises. The NDP pledged to introduce public auto insurance that would save car owners a fortune in premiums. Four years later, the Dippers were still promising socialist collision coverage even as they were being driven out of office.
* Bob Rae is perhaps the only great Canadian leader of the last century to have a day named in his honour -- Rae Days. Just over a decade ago, the man who would now be the next federal Liberal leader and perhaps Canada's next prime minister looked out upon the economic landscape he had created and saw that it was ravaged by record debt, record deficits and record job losses, and he knew exactly what needed to be done.
He hired 100,000 more public servants, gave them all a big raise, and ordered them to stay home and not get paid.
Bob! Bob! Bob!
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
LOL! This is priceless.
I'm rooting for Michael Ignatieff in this particular race. I heard him speak and he is a genius. People asked him all kinds of questions and he had in-depth answers (several of which mentioned Canada's history) to each and every one of them.
I've heard of him before - he is a class A, certifiable moron.
Regards, Ivan
I've met both him and Michael Ignatieff. Michael is genuine, but Bob Rae is a smooth politician, and a little snobby, too.
Rae Days. Economy and morale killer. They haunt everyone.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Sorry but I agree with Ivan in Post 4. Every Conservative out there should be hoping for, applauding and encouraging the Libs to vote Bob Rae to be their leader. In Ontario where the Libs still garnered lots of seats in the last fed election, I can't wait to hear what the average voter has to say when they consider what impact a Rae guvmint might have on their wallet. The vision of a crowd of sailors landing on shore on pay day after being out at sea for months and months...... and the town where they land has nothing but taverns in it comes to mind. Nope, Ignatieff would be far more formidable in an election than Rae.
"The vision of a crowd of sailors landing on shore on pay day after being out at sea for months and months...... and the town where they land has nothing but taverns in it"
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Thing is, Bob Rae's NDP mess wasn't that big a break from the past.
Consider this.
There was a 1970's machine tool company in, I think it was, Mississauga that did not want to deal with having unionized employees, but got organized anyway. The owners of the company decided to go out of business rather than be subject to a union.
The provincial government forced the company back into business. That's right. The Liberal government forced to owners to put their capital at risk and reopen. I don't know if the company is still in business today.
You're kidding, right?
Genuine? Maybe, but genuine what exactly?
Regards, Ivan
"Stop! You're both right!"
An Ignatieff win would drive the real moonbats now in the Liberal Party to the NDP and a Rae victory all non-Marxist Liberals to the Conservatives !!!
If there's a downside to either one of them winning, I don't see it ... snicker!
... Ignatieff certainly comes out with - beyond his accusing Israel of war crimes - a lot of arrogant, ill-considered and downright stupid statements.
Ummmmm.... something is definitely wrong with your story. The Progressive Conservatives were the party in power from 1943 to 1985 so either your story happened under a PC government or the timing is off - in 1985 David Peterson became the first Liberal premier since Harry Nixon in 1943. For your information, Bill Davis was the premier from 1971 to 1985. You have raised a curious story so if you can find more detail, I suggest you dig it out and post it.
And yes, the guvmint of Bob Rae was indeed a very bad thing. Greg Weston's article in the Ottawa Sun is just a mild hint at how bad it was.
Then it was the conservatives. I was living in Mississagua at the time it happened. I lived there from 1971-6.
He does the best "I am personally offended" routine I have seen from a politico in a long time. yawn / snore
No one I know really cares if Mr. Rae is offended, but his red face is a wonder to behold.
His white butt however is not and I would have suggested Mr. Rae keep it covered up or save it for the enjoyment of only his closest allies and CBC constituents. /s
B.C. also suffered major damage under terrible NDP provincial governments so between Rae and Dosanjh the Federal Liberals are now plainly associated with the fiscal disasters suffered by both Ont. and B.C. when control and management was taken over by these far left wingers.
Yes!! Genuinely LIEBERAL!!
LOL!
LOL! I saw that article right after I posted to you and cringed!
Genuine? Maybe, but genuine what exactly?
LOL! He always looks like the wacky professor, kind of goofy. :) He just seemed so smart to me. OTOH, he has made a number of goofs (Israel committed war crimes, if not elected leader he'd leave the party, etc.
Okay, never mind. :)
LOL, you're right.
But I was amazed--some woman asked him a question, now I can't recall what it was, and he responded with some obscure reference to the Canadian constitution. He really did win over the crowd. Of course, this was before all the stupid statements. :)
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