Merv Tweed is one of my favourite people. The Brandon-Souris Member of Parliament is personable, polite, complimentary and, for the most part, fun to be around. That said, Merv may strike me from his Christmas card list (although he gets to send them out free of charge) for what I’m going to write in the next few paragraphs.

Sorry, Merv, but your mailer that arrived at my house last week asking me to answer a one-question survey about who is best capable of handling the Canadian economy didn’t give me enough choices. It certainly isn’t Stephen Harper, the answer I’m sure Merv wanted me to give. It probably isn’t Michael Ignatieff, who is having so much trouble with his Liberal caucus and membership that the Canadian ecomony would be overkill in his hands. It wouldn’t be Jack Layton, because he’s a New Democrat, and they traditionally go overboard in playing the Robin Hood role. The other name on the list was Elizabeth May of the Green Party, and I’m sure Merv put that one into his mailer survey question just because he’s always liked a good joke.

But where was the tick-off option ‘None of the above?’ That would have been my choice.

At a time when the world economy is reeling from a global recession, we have the nightmare of the $1.2 billion bill for the G20 and G8 conferences later this month in Toronto, with its Fake Lake and all. Talk about a slap in the face to Canadians who are looking for work, who have had their hours cut or who have given up looking for work. Say it slowly and it sounds worse. One point two billion. That’s one thousand, two hundred million. Sidney Crosby doesn’t even make that much.

Granted, the Conservative Party’s Action Plan is spreading billions of dollars around the country in an effort to stimulate the recovery, and the amateur economist in me says it’s having a positive impact. However, the professional cynic in me says that Harper has full control of the cookie jar and thinks if he gives enough cookies to the neighbourhood kids, they’ll make him Playground Captain for life.

Sorry, but the cynicism about Harper and his economic madness started a couple of years ago when he stupidly cut the Goods and Services Tax, first from seven to six per cent and then to five per cent. It was a vote-magnet, for sure, despite the protestations of almost every economist worth his pocket calculator, who said unequivocally that it was the dumbest move the federal government could possibly have made if it was really interested in helping the average Canadian.

The GST, of course, is a consumption tax. The more you spend, the more GST you save. So who spends more? Canadians who are wealthy, of course. Harper’s Tories said they were going to reduce the GST in an effort to “lower taxes for working Canadians.” What would have made more sense is for his government to reduce the federal tax rate in some of the lower income tax brackets, so those ”working Canadians” would actually have more disposable income in their pockets. Instead, the “working Canadians” got a kick in the butt while the people driving the Cadillacs and living in the big houses got the bigger break.

Or, had Harper’s Conservatives told the real truth about wanting to do what they could for “working Canadians,” why wouldn’t they simply have increased the GST credit? Target that extra cash to people who really need it instead of giving a big break to somebody buying a boat or RV.

An estimated $5 billion reduction in revenue per year came from that GST cut which, coupled with the recession of 2008-09, made it a double whammy that Houdini as finance minister would not be able to wriggle out of. Those creases on the face of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty? He can thank the GST cut for that big one on his left cheek and the one running across his forehead.

So, no, Merv, I can’t tick off Stephen Harper as the answer to that question about the person to best handle the Canadian economy. In the end, when all things are considered, Harper might eventually be the right answer. I just wish he’d start showing it.