Stephen Taylor – a blog on Canadian politics » The Canadian media on Stephen Harper and the global bank tax

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June 5, 2010

The Canadian media on Stephen Harper and the global bank tax

Is the shine coming off Stephen Harper’s summit spotlight?

…

As with the economy, a host of other issues appear to have conspired to take the shine off Harper’s role at the upcoming summits in Huntsville and Toronto.

Despite trying for months to defuse the hot-button issue of a global bank tax, Harper still finds himself at odds with Obama, Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. …

Le Devoir (translated from June 5):

Harper returned empty handed from Europe

After London, Paris refused to waive a tax on banks

Paris – If the objective of the whirlwind trip that Stephen Harper was finished yesterday in Europe to persuade London and Paris to abandon their proposed tax on banks, it now appears as a failure. Like his British counterpart had done the day before, the French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, said yesterday that France had no intention of abandoning its intention to tax the banking business in order to establish a fund for emergencies. …

Back from 48h to London and Paris, Harper is so isolated on this crucial issue because the proposed tax on banks is supported by both the European Union, the United States and the International Monetary Fund. The project is also likely to take shape fairly quickly in Europe.

So about that failure of the PM to fend off a global bank tax?

Canwest and Reuters (June 5th):

Finance ministers scrap plans for global bank tax

In the face of fierce opposition from Canada and several other countries, finance ministers from the Group of 20 have axed plans for a global bank tax
, giving individual nations more freedom to decide how to make banks pay for any future bailouts.
The ministers ended a two-day meeting in Busan, South Korea, on Saturday that was held to review progress on a string of initiatives aimed at making the financial system safer in the wake of the last year’s global collapse.

A bank tax, a measure pushed for by the United States, Britain and France, would have imposed a levy on all global financial institutions. All three countries spent billions of taxpayer dollars to rescue their largest financial institutions after the fiscal crisis of late 2008.

This entry was authored by Stephen Taylor at 08:26 PM | Tweet this | Comments (12)

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Kelly

Interesting. A couple days ago, some of these journalists were snickering on TV on the eve of Harper’s visit to France. “Good luck with that…” brought smiles all around. Funny that.
Bec

What? The Canadian media are idiots? Oh please, please, say it ain’t so, I’ll be so disillusioned ONCE AGAIN!
wilson

Prime Minister Harper was successful in convincing Obama, Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to change their position,
and scrap the global bank tax.

Let the history books show…….

and in other news,
an historic immigration bill may not make it through Parliament, due to Liberal MPs convincing their unelected leader to withdraw his support of the previously accepted Liberal amendments,
and the history books will show that too

Could the contrast be anymore stark between these two men?
Mary T

And abortion and climate talks are also off the table. Poor Hillory, ignored by all.
Patsplace

In Canada the PM is slagged at every turn, but in most of the rest of the world he is regarded as a Leader among Leaders. Here is a man that receives kudo's from all quarters of the globe except Canada. What's with that?
Lou

Looks like an assertive campaign with momentum win for our PM. He is always been very focused and knew that he HAD to fight any hint of globalization of sovereign financial systems. I am so thankful that Stephen Harper is our PM in these very turbulent times. Iggy, who has never said one word about economics that was intelligent, would have immediately caved and agreed, as he knows nothing about the dangers about which Harper picked up on immediately. Iggy: viva harmony and capitulation.

The EU/UK need to pay for their ridiculous laziness and socialism, and the US needs to pay for their corrupt, unregulated derivative markets as do the UK and EU and other banks around the world who were all party to this. Let all the corrupt banks fail around the world. I hope the Saudies were caught too. It is actually amazing that our small country with an economist PM on a fervent mission will be able to kill this idea for a while. I am so grateful.
NovaDog

My conspiracy theory for the media slag is the media is trying to sway the electorate to maintain a minority vote and minority polls. When there is a minority government you get more bickering and scandal, which is easier to write and sell papers. I truly believe the media is trying manipulate the outcomes of elections for thier own profit…

Thanks
Liz J

If the Liberals withdraw their support for the immigration bill they could guarantee a majority for the Harper Conservatives. This should be a confidence vote.

Good news about our PM's achievements is taken over by gossip. We'll hear more about Peter McKay's breakup than the great accomplishments our PM.
kenn2

Um, with a little help from his friends…

However, attempts to introduce the global levy were finally scrapped this weekend after opposition continued to come from Canada, Japan and Brazil — countries whose banks needed no public bailout during the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

“It was apparent again in our meetings that most G20 members do not support the concept of a universal levy,” Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters after the meeting Saturday.

But there's no question in my mind that Harper and Flaherty were on the ~~right~~ correct side of this issue. So, full marks to them for that.
Powell Lucas

The Red Star would claim that Stephen Harper had webbed duck's feet if he were to walk on water.
Switchyard O'Taylor

Plus they're listening to your thoughts through dental fillings…
kenn2

Exaggerate much? Harper gets alot of praise from within Canada. I've even praised him, on this forum, more than once. He's got some serious smarts in the economic sphere, and yes he has been credible in international relations.

He'd attract alot more praise within Canada if he'd simply act on his election pledge to make government open and accountable. Instead he's made it closed, unresponsive and secretive.

('Leader among Leaders' … I LOL'd. It's even funnier than when I called him 'Dear Leader')