Blame Obama

In a sure sign that things are far worse in Canada than we had been led to believe, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and his apparently less than independent Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney are blaming the Obama Administration for being somewhat slow off the mark in showering banks with obscene amounts of money while requiring no meaningful reforms.

Canada has of course done much better, funneling up to $200 billion to the banks through the EFF, with no oversight by Parliament or opposition parties. Not surprisingly, for this and other nefarious reasons, our banks are in far better shape.

Yet our economy is not, as the energy sector is in free-fall and our auto industry is heading into bankruptcy protection. GDP is declining at almost 8% per year -- near depression rates. And unlike Obama, who faces real, if delusional, opposition, the Harper government faces an opposition far more concerned with political manuevering than with holding this government to account at a crucial time in our history.