For all the pomp and circumstance regarding the negative opposition reaction to the federal budget, I'm not seeing the Government get any credit for making a compromise. By my own Tory polling, respondents rate the budget as 20% excellent, 70% satisfactory. This did not excite the base, and certainly some fiscally conservative pundits are lashing out that the cuts were not deep enough. But this is a minority parliament with an opportunistic opposition who have been convinced by Frank Graves that they have a shot at forming government.
Be mad if it pleases you, but what did you expect? Our deficit to GDP ratio is far stronger than the majority of our western allies. We have been one of the most responsible countries in this recession. Some European countries are on the precipice of economic collapse. It would have been fantastic if we could have cut more, but we could not have cut more and also gain the support of the opposition in a minority parliament. Deal with it. Lashing out when what you got is the best you'll get is simply juvenile. I am a fiscal conservative and I accept that we will never get what I want, so I don't piss and moan when the budget doesn't slice as deep as I'd like.
Favorably comparing Canada's debt to GDP ratio to other Western economies is not exactly something to jump up and down about. The bar isn't exactly set very high.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Europe sucks. What was I thinking?
ReplyDeleteStill, I would have liked to have seen a "Just in case" file. "Just in case" things don't go exactly as planned, some of our options to keep us on course are to cut in-part, some or all of the following items in any combination thereof.
ReplyDeleteThis gives the public the time to weigh in on, or come to accept the potential need of cuts on said departments/programs etc. so if/when the time comes where additional measures need to be taken, there will be no surprises.
I'm not entirely comfortable setting such a narrow course and getting on board this ship without any "life preservers".