Reality Check

September 8, 2008

Harper fails to commit to ending his campaign of "piling lies upon lies"

ISSUE:
After being challenged by Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion to end his campaign of “piling lies upon lies,” Mr. Harper replied with a litany of fabrications, claiming:
  • Liberals “have clearly indicated that they are favouring a higher GST”;
  • Liberals “promised to cut down the $100 per month or $1,200 per year given for child care”;
  • Conservatives support “the registration of gun owners”; and
  • Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is really a “Liberal” who is the Liberal Party’s “candidate in Central Nova.”

HARPER LIE:
  • Stéphane Dion would raise the GST and eliminate the Child Care Benefit.
REALITY:
Stéphane Dion has repeatedly committed that he will not raise the GST or eliminate the child care benefit. This is clearly a matter of public record yet Stephen Harper insists on repeating these baseless fabrications.

GST
  • Mr. Dion has criticized Mr. Harper’s decision to lower the GST as an inefficient tax cut, but he has never said he will raise the GST.
  • Liberals have no plans to raise the GST. Period.
Universal Child Care Benefit
  • While Mr. Dion has criticized Mr. Harper for cancelling billions in child care funding agreements with the provinces and breaking his promise to create child care spaces, the Liberal leader has never committed to ending or reducing the Universal Child Care Benefit. Period.
  • Liberals will maintain this benefit and will augment it with real support to create quality child care spaces.

HARPER LIE:
  • Mr. Harper has said: “Look, our position on gun control has been known for a long time. This party has favoured the registration of gun owners.”
REALITY:
  • In his 2006 platform Mr. Harper committed to the “cancellation of the ineffective long-gun registry program” (p. 23). While unable to achieve an outright cancellation of the gun registry in a minority Parliament, Mr. Harper has severely weakened the registry by implementing an amnesty on registration for three years in row.

HARPER LIE:
  • Mr. Harper has said: “But I do think it is unfair in principle to have two Liberal candidates in the debate. Elizabeth May is not an opponent of Stéphane Dion, she is his candidate in Central Nova.”
REALITY:
  • According to the website, www.greenparty.ca, Elizabeth May is not a Liberal candidate or even a member of the party. She is in fact the leader of the Green Party of Canada, which received over a million votes in the last general election.
Canadians should ask themselves how Mr. Harper’s outright lies correspond with his commitment yesterday, when he said: “I don't see any reason to go personal and nasty against the other leaders. I have good relations with most of the other leaders, and I respect all of them."