Harpo, Iggy and the $64 billion question
I haven’t written on Canadian politics for awhile, mainly because I’ve had more interesting things in my life such as my new puppy Morag. She’s a beautiful Wheaten who locks her jaws on any thing left within her reach and climbs on my shoulders to show her displeasure at my taking a telephone call.
But I can’t let the news today that Prime Minister Harper will plow Canada $64 billion into debt over the next two years pass without a comment. Talk about a $64 question!
It was only weeks ago, you’ll all remember, that Harpo’s finance minister, funny man Jim Flaherty, predicted we’d enjoy year after year of budget surpluses over the next five years. And these guys, dyed-in-the-wool conservative, pin-stripe banker types, claim they’ve got a plan and it’s working!
The orchestrated leaking of the Big Red Ink shortfall came just a day after the parliamentary budget chief warned that Canada is likely to run $100 billion into debt over the next five years. That’ll wipe out all the gains we made in reducing the national debt when Paul Martin was Jean Chretien’s finance minister.
We seem to be looking at a carefully staged PR exercise to soften up Canadians to sigh with relief when we see all the goodies coming at us in next week’s budget. Tax cuts, infrastructure spending, auto bail-outs, help for farmers and seniors, and a big new credit pump-up for the banks.
We probably need all those things. It’s too bad we’ve had such a hypocritical government that Harpo couldn’t bring himself to face reality until he came within an inch of getting his neck ina parliamentary guillotine before Christmas.
So what’s my prediction forthe budget vote? If $64 billion is spread around in such a way as to put some real stimulus into the economy, the Liberals will have no choice but to support it. But as Michael Ignatieff says, it’s the reckless past spending and unnecessary tax reductions (especially in the GST) that have crippled the country’s finances. “Mr. Harper is going to have to wear this deficit,” Iggy says.
All somehow much reminiscent of George W. Bush!
The Conservatives are now doing what they’ve all piled on Bob Rae for doing — priming the pump with deficit spending when Ontario was deep in recession in the 1990s.
The NDP and the Bloc are in a great position to attack — and vote against — the budget on the presumption it will have Liberal support.
But a word to the wise for Stephen Harper. The Liberal-NDP Coalition remains Iggy’s ace card. He’s not keen to play it. He’d rather see Harpo squirm through a year of painful recession before pulling the plug for a new election. But the Coalition remains a potent threat. It’s forcing the Conservatives into accommoding a minority Parliament.
Now, it’s time to give Morag some puppy training (I wonder who’s training who?)
