With advisors like this, no wonder Stéphane Dion cannot cost his promises
Today, John McCallum will have an opportunity to come clean with a full costing of Stéphane Dion’s promises. Earlier this week, the Conservative Party released a report which conclusively demonstrates that, over a four year period, a Stéphane Dion Liberal Government would plunge Canada at least $62.5 billion deeper into debt.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely Mr. McCallum will offer any real answers and instead choose to attack those who are questioning his numbers. One of Mr. McCallum’s favourite lines is to cite his experience as an economist with the Royal Bank. But has anyone looked closely at Mr. McCallum’s time at the Royal Bank? Just how much of an ‘expert’ is he?
- Over a six year period, John McCallum’s annual economic forecasts contained 60 separate predictions of projected GDP growth, Consumer Price Index changes, Unemployment rate changes and Housing starts. Of Mr. McCallum's 60 predictions, 55 were incorrect – a staggering 91.66% failure rate.
- John McCallum admitted that he failed to predict the Asian currency crisis, saying: “this is one of these events which essentially nobody predicted.” (Canada AM, June 26, 1998)
- And even after the crisis occurred, Mr. McCallum had no idea what it meant, saying:“The question is whether this is the beginning of a huge crisis or just a warning signal and things will gradually improve… We don't know the answer to that.” (Windsor Star, January 14, 1999)
- What Mr. McCallum did offer was dire warnings about the devastating impact of the Y2K crisis that never ended up happening, saying: “The Year 2000 computer problem is not a joke, and people will become more concerned about it.” (National Post, The Financial Post Magazine, January 1, 1999)
- And on the eve of the tech bubble bursting, an event which cost thousands of Canadians much of their retirement savings, John McCallum was reassuring Canadians that there were good times ahead, saying: “Right now we are really booming…there are always risks out there but I think the Canadian economy is in pretty fine shape heading into the new millennium.” (Toronto Star, November 10, 1999)
John McCallum’s record as an economist is no stronger than Stéphane Dion’s record as a leader. No wonder Paul Martin passed him over for Finance Minister.
