Flaherty Needs to Stop Channelling My Grandfather

I remember, as a child, my grandfather explaining to me how our nation got out of the Great Depression because of the Second World War. All that money invested in the war machine jump started our economy, he would argue, slamming a fist on the kitchen table. My grandfather had a fifth grade education and became a lovely man after the stroke, but years later after I did some reading on the subject, I discovered our recovery from that economic catastrophe was more complicated than simply "war breeds wealth." The ideas that developed out the New Deal had a lot more to do with our post-Crash recovery and our prolonged post-War prosperity than my grandfather ever gave them credit. (And, we can thank their post-Reagan erosion for the economic pickle we're in now.)

Well, judging by comments from Peter MacKay, (Leader Post) it would seem the Conservatives have been taking economic advice from my dear departed grandfather. Perhaps the PM has been getting messages from my grampy -- Mackenzie-King style -- through his cat.

Before a gathering of the "defense industry elite," MacKay was proudly declaring today that the recession will not slow military spending. In fact, according to the Post article, he claims, "the Canadian economy as a whole will be buoyed by the sustainable economic benefits that accrue through domestic and global opportunities in and beyond defence and security."

Personally, I find it ominous when a government links the word "sustainable" with anything to do with the military.