Some of you may have noticed that the Ministry of Finance has been releasing individual initiatives that are to be contained in the upcoming budget. This allows the opposition to consider and respond to each component of the budget, and if it is unacceptable to them the government can make a compromise. This is a healthy way to do business in a minority government. Since elections are a threat in any minority budget vote, it makes perfect sense to procure input from the opposition before tabling the entire legislation. It reduces the risk of a snap election.
What is very interesting is that some of the canaries in the left wing coal mine are furious that information on the budget is being released in small portions before the vote. Kady O'Malley is leading the charge in the angered response to having individual facets negotiated prior to the vote, and she is convinced that this action violates some alleged sacred covenant. Now today she is pimping a phony Twitter account that is intended to satire the Finance Ministry release information about the budget. We don't know who initiated the account, but Kady O'Malley was writing about it within an hour of the site being created (before there was any indication that it was a satire).
Clearly the objective of the site is to take a legitimate budgetary negotiation strategy and make a mockery of it. Will its life extend beyond the small fringe of people who take their cues from Kady? You know somebody is going to start a Facebook Group and then distribute chain mail to sucker all their friends to sign up, and their friends to sign up, etc. Then the CBC will report on a "groundswell" of public anger about pre releasing budget information, and cite the Twitter and Facebook accounts as evidence of a massive shift in public opinion.
I have been too consumed by the Olympics that I have not been watching much CBC Newsworld. I don't know what if anything the Liberal party is saying about the policies that have been released. Have they laid out their terms and conditions for supporting a budget? If their objective is to vote against the budget, then it would be against their interests to release their positions prior to the reading in Parliament. They can't very well make the case for voting against the budget if they have already agreed to its contents. If they don't have to state their opinion in advance, then when the entire budget is unveiled in the legislature they can come out into the hallway and do a dramatic "Mister Harper your time is up" press conference.
So instead of setting out proper terms and conditions for supporting a budget, the left is going to do a satire of the negotiating process. Very professional.
Iffy apparently issued a seven page letter outlining the budget demands of the Liberal party. Of course Harper ignored it.
ReplyDeleteLayton got to meet with Harper face to face. Iffy on the other hand is back in Vancouver. He wants to see the Russian hockey team beat Canada tonight. That's from the CBC school marm who breathlessly announces all things Liberal. Iffy is betwixt and between who he will support i.e. Russia or Canada. This idiot wants to be PM of Canada. Not likely.
Through the '90s the Liberals used to float the major elements of their budgets prior to budget day. It was a strategic move that was intended to 'smooth the choppy waters' of concern regarding the decisive budgets of 94/95/96 when the deficit was reduced.
ReplyDeleteThe upcoming budget is going to be pretty important, too, and as you say in a minority it makes good sense to do the trial balloon thing.
If Ms. O'Malley had a memory lasted longer than two seconds she would know about the '90s. But maybe she's just being coy.
Who is paying Iffy's expenses? They are obviously personal but we all know he is broke.
ReplyDeleteHe wants women in the third world to have abortions funded by Canadian taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteI think it is time that the CBC gets funded the same way political parties are funded but instead of $2 per vote it would be $2 per viewer. That and a cup of coffee would get them well....another coffee ;)
ReplyDeleteThe NDP are going to do their usual antics scream how much they care for the 'little' guy, yet go against the budget that has things for the 'little' guy.
ReplyDeleteWhat the prime minister is bringing out in the budget are items from where the liberals never paid into never bothered to fund yet they called it a surplus. the liberals created a surplus on/from items like infrastructure military etc from where they never paid into.