Harper had eliminated surpluses and was running structural deficits before the financial crisis. Flaherty sold taxpayer assets to paper over some of the deficit as he did in Ontario. People on the right spin us this yarn about Harper being forced to run deficits in order to provide stimulus but there are problems with this argument:

- a) The Harper Government (TM) budgeted $44 billion in stimulus over two years but never spent all of it. Over those two years, Harper posted about $90 billion in deficits. Where did the other $46 billion or so go?

- b) If Harper and his government truly believed that they should not stimulate the economy then they should have refused to do so. If they lost a no confidence motion then so be it but they would have stuck to their beliefs. Blaming the other guy for not having the courage of your own convictions is pretty sleazy IMHO.