Our Prime Douchebag Pulling A 'Bush' Yet Again

That's right:

Harper disagrees with pessimistic report on Canadian housing market

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says he disagrees with a report by brokerage firm Merrill Lynch that warns Canada could be headed for a housing and mortgage meltdown similar to the one that has devastated the United States economy.

The report, issued Wednesday by Merrill Lynch Canada economists David Wolf and Carolyn Kwan, said many Canadian households are more financially overextended than their counterparts in the U.S. or Britain.

They said it's only a matter of time before the "tipping point" is reached and the housing and credit markets crack in Canada.

"I don't accept that conclusion, not at all," Harper told reporters on tour in British Columbia.

"We have seen the housing market and the construction market much stronger in Canada than in the U.S.," he said.

Harper said Canadian financial institutions have also taken a different approach to lending than their American counterparts.

"We don't have the same situation here with the mortgages as was the case in the U.S. with the subprime mortgages there," he said. "So, therefore, I think that our market is in a much stronger position."

The report acknowledges that the analysis is more pessimistic than the prevailing view.

Many economists have been saying that Canada's housing and banking sectors are much more stable than their American counterparts, and will likely slow down but not crash.

But Merrill Lynch Canada — whose U.S. parent is one of the biggest victims of a crisis in financial markets arising from the American housing and mortgage meltdown — said Canadians should be wary.

Household net borrowing in Canada amounted to 6.3 per cent of disposable income in 2007, which is more than households in the U.K. and not far off the peak reached by U.S. households in 2005.

The report also said housing prices are now falling and inventories of unsold homes are rising sharply in Canada, suggesting that this market turnaround will not be a transitory phenomenon.

To this new "I don't accept that conclusion" line, let us add these other famous last words:

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong." - (G.O.P.) U.S. President G.W. Bush, 08/21/2007;

"The U.S. economy has some strains but its underpinnings remain strong and resilient." - (G.O.P.) U.S. President G.W. Bush, 11/13/2007;

"I don't think we're headed to recession. But no question, we're in a slowdown." - (G.O.P.) U.S. President G.W. Bush, 02/28/2008;

"I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong." - (G.O.P. candidate for President of the U.S.) Senator John McCain, 08/20/2008;

"There has been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street. People are frightened by these events. Our economy I think, still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times." - (G.O.P. candidate for President of the U.S.) Senator John McCain, 09/15/2008;

"Canada's economic fundamentals and the oversight of its financial system remain strong." - (CPC) Prime Minister of Canada S.J. Harper, 04/08/2008;

"Canada's economic fundamentals remain strong." - (CPC) Prime Minister of Canada S.J. Harper, 07/30/2008;

"The Canadian economy's fundamentals are solid." - (CPC) Prime Minister of Canada S.J. Harper, 09/15/2008;

"At the moment there are problems in the Canadian economy, but we aren't in a recession." - (CPC) Prime Minister of Canada S.J. Harper, 09/15/2008.

How about a few telling headlines to boot?

Bush Dismisses Global Warming Report;

Bush rejects Canadian Iraq proposal;

Bush Rejects Special Counsel On Spying;

Bush won't accept Democrats' efforts to set Iraq war timetable;

McCain does not accept setting timetable for Iraq withdrawal;

Bush rejects regulating greenhouse gases;

McCain camp rejects reality as irrelevant;

McCain rejects calls for universal health coverage;

McCain Rejects Broad U.S. Aid on Mortgages;

Harper rejects warning from academics;

Harper dismisses talks of climate change;

Harper rejects RCMP probe of Bernier affair;

Harper rejects key Gomery proposals;

Harper rejects calls for tougher gun laws;

Harper dismisses Kyoto compliance law.

... and global warming is not man-made and Kyoto would have been the ruin of our economy and God created the Universe, the World and Humanity in six days some 8000 years ago.

See a pattern, here?

Harper and the CPC: because denying reality is all they can do to cover-up their primitive mind-driven incompetence.

Any questions?