harper alot like bush

Conference Board Economist Can No Longer Stand By Conservative Platform Costing: “Talk to Harper”
January 15, 2006
liberal.ca/news_e.aspx?id=11399

Ottawa – The prominent economist who was hired by the Conservatives to verify their platform said today he can no longer stand by his costing because he was not given all the numbers.

Paul Darby, Deputy Chief Economist of the Conference Board of Canada, told Canadian press today that the version of the Conservative platform that he was given to vet didn’t include its health care guarantee and its promise to redress the so-called “fiscal imbalance” between Ottawa and the provinces.

“Those are two items that are not in what I was presented to analyze,” Darby said. “Those items were not costed, which leads me to believe that they're something that they're having under consideration that they're not committed to.”

When asked about the costing, Mr. Darby replied: “Talk to Harper.

“It is not in the platform I received from them.”

Darby had originally concluded that Stephen Harper's Conservative platform “is affordable in each fiscal year from 2005-2006 through 2010-2011.”

As a result, the Conservative party stated that its platform had been “independently verified” by the Conference Board, an Ottawa-based think-tank.

Mr. Darby’s stunning admission completely discredits the already dubious costing of the Conservative Party’s platform, which came under fire immediately after it was released on Friday January 13, 2006.

As Finance Minister Ralph Goodale and Revenue Minister McCallum indicated on Friday, Mr. Harper’s platform has hidden $23 billion in cuts.

In fact, the same day the Conservatives released their platform, they initially denied that they had $23 billion in hidden cuts.

But then they quietly re-issued their platform later Friday evening with the inclusion of a new table outlining an additional $23 billion in “moderating spending.”

To most Canadians “moderating spending” means deep cuts to valued social programs.

With today’s admission, Mr. Harper’s program stands with its credibility in ruins.

Come clean, Mr. Harper. Tell Canadians the truth.