"Ottawa's sell-off of government assets smacks of a "fire sale" and is further proof the Conservatives have mismanaged the government's finances and are now desperate to raise cash to avoid a deficit, opposition critics say.
"The Conservatives' move to clean house of assets it no longer wants — or can afford — drew immediate flak from Liberal and NDP MPs and prompted at least one prominent economist to warn Ottawa is unlikely to get top price on anything it puts on the market right now.
" "Does it make sense to unload items at what will probably be something akin to fire-sale prices just so we can still boast that the books remain balanced?" Bank of Montreal deputy chief economist Doug Porter wrote in a commentary ..."
"Opposition critics call asset sale plan 'nuts'"
Sat, 2008-11-15 14:37
#1
"Opposition critics call asset sale plan 'nuts'"
Sat, 2008-11-15 14:45
#2
Boom Boom
It'll be terrible if some unreplaceable heritage buildings are sold off to avoid a deficit. Across from the Hill buildings such as the old American Embassy (which had been suggested for a photo museum before the idea was given to Calgary instead, and then cancelled altogether) are I heard being considered for the chopping block. If any valuable heritage buildings are indeed put up for sale to make a quick buck to avoid deficits, I hope Ottawans (and others) organise and chain themselves to the entrances of these buildings in protest.
Sat, 2008-11-15 15:17
#3
- It is in the ideology of a Conservative government to try to make the state apparatus smaller.
- No fire sale is to be expected since investors have a big part of their portfolio in liquidity.
- A valuable heritage is something that can uniquely help maintain our self-respect as Canadians.
Sat, 2008-11-15 16:05
#4
ElizaQ
On the news the other night they even mentioned the CN tower as a possibility.
Sat, 2008-11-15 17:29
#5
Well, the last time they sold off buildings, they wound up just renting them back at more than it used to cost to maintain them.
I wouldn't call it nuts though. I think "batshit fucking crazy" is a better term.
But I guess we now know what Harper meant when he said that there would be good buying opportunities for Canadians due to the crisis.
Sun, 2008-11-16 03:01
#6
Even the bank of montreals economist said it was a bad decission with the price of realestate low. Which is pretty damning coming form a bank economist. Looky looky a crisis time to sell the roof off the house....oops I guess this house leaks now...might as well tear down the house. What a bunch of fuck heads. Can't expect anything different form Flaherty he did the same thing in ontario. Then got the boot provincially, but some stupid people forgot(damn memory hole) and he got elected to finance of the whole COUNTRY!!! Same effect all over. Evem if the cons had lost the election they would have left the next government with a big steaming pile. Win Win . Government no function-must scrap.
The worst part is even if the left ever does win, they will make it very hard to renationalize anything(laws like anti-deficit laws already on the books) it will take a long time and resources(which they know) and will scream to the high heavens that the current government(then not now) will be responsible for all problems they left that government just like the 6.7 billion deficit in ontario. Cons are so fiscal responsible that they hide how ineffective they are by selling off all public assets. Transparancy and accountability. Oh did we mention they did it with 26% consent of canadians....love FPTP
Sun, 2008-11-16 17:12
#7
Even the bank of montreals economist said it was a bad decission with the price of realestate low. Which is pretty damning coming form a bank economist.
What we can say for sure is that the speculative bubble in real estate has busted. In other words, what we can say is that the price of real estate was artificially high. The Bank of Montreal will never admit it has created a mess that only government can redress.