Promises, Promises... Separatist Politicians Ignore Reality

Henry Louis Mencken

"When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost... All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum

Today readers, we will be discussing (I say we, not in the royal sense, but rather because you will have your part to say  in the comments forum) the unbelievable promises being bandied about in this current election campaign, mostly by the separatist leaders of the Parti Quebecois and Quebec solidaire.

Now the Liberals and the CAQ are making some promises of their own, but modest compared to the billions and billions being thrown out there by the PQ and QS and at least are making some provisions to pay for their them.
Francois Legault has put forward a couple of cost saving ideas, including getting rid of school boards, that layer of administration between the education department and the schools themselves, plus getting rid of the deadwood in Hydro Quebec and in the civil service.
Heaven knows there's enough of that!

As for Jean Charest, he's on record for increasing student tuition as well as the imposition of an additional health tax on families.
But all these measures, according to the Liberals and the CAQ will only serve to finance new spending.

All parties have forgotten to make mention of Quebec's ballooning debt, as if it wasn't there and that paying it down not a priority.
As an election issue, it appears to be taboo, as if speaking of debt reduction is the political kiss of death in Quebec.
It seems that voters aren't interested in being reminded that collectively our credit cards are overloaded and like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand, we live with the fantasy that if we don't talk about it, it may not be a problem. Sure....

It's the same policy adopted by Europe over the last two decades, refusing to deal with the elephant in the room, the national debt that had been piled up over decades of decadent over-spending.
Whether Quebec is in as bad a situation is debatable, but it is true that in terms of Canada, Quebec is in the worst financial position of all the provinces owing a collective debt of $250+ billion or about $39,000 per Quebecker or more than $60,000 per taxpayer.

The idea that this debt is but a trifle is the political philosophy of PQ star candidate, Jean-François Lisée, who actually believes and writes that Quebec really doesn't have a debt  problem at all.
Mr. Lisée reminds me of that seven-day a week, all-day tippler, the drunk who swears up and down that his drinking is no big deal and that he has it under control.

The rank stupidity and callous disregard for the truth by these separatists reminds of the famous quote by Henry Louis Menken, who I will quote and paraphrase extensively throughout this post;

"There's no underestimating the intelligence of the Quebec voter" 

As voters go, Quebecers are probably no smarter or dumber than your average North American, but that really isn't saying a lot, which brings me to my third quote from that witty journalist.

Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots"

Politicians who abuse the rank stupidity of the masses with unbelievable promises that attempt to bamboozle them into voting a certain way, are usually called to order by a vigilant Press, which is supposed to be the guardians of truth.

But somehow this element is lacking in Quebec.
When Madame Marois makes the most idiotic of proposals, there's nary a contrary peep anywhere, mostly because our journalists are decidedly separatist as well.
Even the English press misses the boat, as it collectively concentrates on the narrowest of issues, which is language and the collective angst of Anglos over having nobody to represent them.
 
And so we get the utterly ridiculous proposals put forward by the PQ and QS, proposals that are so patently stupid, it would prompt a thinking person to throw up one's hands in disgust.

As for Mr. Khadir and Francoise David, I can forgive them their excesses. They can promise the Moon, it is of not matter, even their own constituency recognizes that they are not serious.

The QS will likely elect no more than half the members it takes to host a bridge game and as such, they can say and promise anything they want.

Mr. Khadir's best line of the campaign is the one where he advises us to "sortir du fatalisme de l'austérité," that is, that we should give up the on idea of being obsessed with austerity.

Does Mr Khadir really believe that these last decades, the government of Quebec has been operating on a strict budget and sticking to an austerity program?
It's statements like this that should have the Press howling in derision.

He then goes on to propose an $8 billion social spending increase, without decreasing spending anywhere else. This 12% increase in the provincial budget would be paid for by a $5,000 tax increase on those making over $250,000, by buying generic drugs and cracking down on tax evasion.
Hmm....Perhaps someone can buy Mr. Khadir a calculator Link{Fr}

But as I said, I shall nor critique his proposals, as I said it is a fantasy and a dream.

As for Madame Marois I shall not be so generous, she is making promises that she cannot keep, and if she does, the provincial debt will spiral up even more.

First she has declared that she will eliminate the new health tax and roll back the tuition increases put in place by the Liberals.
Among her other promises:

• increase the amount of $7 a day daycare places
• Increase salaries to family doctors.
• Use the Caisse de dépôt's (our pension money) to fight off hostile takeovers of Quebec companies.
• High speed internet for all.
• Additional kindergarten starting at age four. 
• A $500 tax rebate to families that enroll their children in sports.

Aside from all this, Marois proposes a massive spending program in the  'regions' as she promised in her trip to the Gaspé.
All this in the first ten days of the election and I shudder to think what is coming.

To pay for this Marois proposes taxing the 'rich' families who make over $80,000 a year and an increase in royalties on minerals. (Oh if it were that easy!)

More spending, more taxes, this in the highest taxed province or state in North America and only in Quebec can a family with an income of $80,000 be considered 'rich.'

This is the type of responsible government that the separatists propose, one that ignores the fiscal reality and one which will paradoxically insure that their own independence project will remain unaffordable and unrealizable.

We are just in the beginning phase of the campaign and political parties save announcements of new spending projects, to be parcelled out as the campaign progresses, to keep interest alive.
So I imagine we can expect more, much more idiotic spending promises.

I close with some more sage political advice from the above-mentioned H. L. Menken;

To the Parti Quebecois;
"Economic independence is the foundation of the only sort of freedom worth a damn."

To Pauline Marois;

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. 

To the Quebec solidaire;
"An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup."

To Amir Khadir;
"The kind of man who wants the government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man whose ideas are idiotic."

To the Liberal Party;
"People constantly speak of "the government" doing this or that, as they might speak of God doing it. But the government is really nothing but a group of men, and usually they are very inferior men. They may have some better man working for them, but they themselves are seldom worthy of any respect." 

To Jean Charest;

"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office."

To the OQLF;
"No one ever heard of the truth being enforced by law. Whenever the secular arm is called in to sustain an idea, whether new or old, it is always a bad idea, and not infrequently it is downright idiotic."  

To French language militants;

"The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true."

To Jean-François Lisée;
"There is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong.

To voters everywhere;

"A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar"

To  all political parties;
"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right."

To readers of this blog;

"Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under."