Ralph Goodale is a big idiot

Ralph Goodale has officially gone off the deep end on bank mergers.

He might as well go stand in front of the TSX/NYSE and scream: "Hi.. folks.. yeah you guys running around in ties, the government of Canada is thinking about nationalizing the banks.. wait.. I didn't actually say that.. go on.. just ignore me."

Bankers hate uncertainty more than they hate socialism. Goodale's recent remarks that the guidelines on bank mergers will not be ready in time and that when they are ready they will not address the all important cross-pillar deals, between big banks and insurance companies, are really, really stupid.

Here is what one analyst said about Goodale:

"He's being extremely irresponsible with his remarks," Mr. Zivic said of the Finance Minister. "He's sitting on the fence here . . . Why doesn't he just shut up?"

Seriously. Goodale needs to either come up with the guidelines or say nothing. Every time he comments on the issue Canadian banks and insurance companies, especially BMO and Manulife Financial, take a hit. Everyone knows that these mergers will eventually happen, all the Finance Department's foot dragging is doing is taking value out of the M&A. What used to be a sweet deal for the bankers is becoming less and less sweet every time BMO takes a hit.

Someone needs to fix this situation. Forget the politics of it, all this uncertainty is going to harm our financial market.. and our market is not big enough or strong enough to be able to withstand it.