Budget review II

A couple of more thoughts upon reflection regarding yesterday's budget ...

I met Stephen Harper back in 1999 when he was president of the National Citizen's Coalition. I asked him then what conservative-minded Canadians need to see happen in order to achieve power. He said two things; first, we have to stop telling people that in order to be a conservative, they have to go to church, and two, we need to develop a constituency that is "built in". By way of comparison, the Liberals have traditionally relied on new Canadians, federalist francophones, and public sector workers to put them over the top and have cultivated those groups as "built in" supporters of the Liberal party. With yesterday's budget, Harper is championing himself as the party of young, working families and is attempting to create a "built in" consituency himself.

Interesting media coverage on that theme as well. The Ottawa Citizen has suggested that Harper's budget is an end to the social engineering ways of the Liberal party. That's a laugher. This is one of the biggest social engineering budgets I've ever seen. If you want to see a Prime Minister who picks favourites (and blatantly so), there's one living at 24 Sussex right now. As much as I would have liked to see broad-based tax cuts, it's good politics for Harper to build his coalition the way he is currently doing.

On the other side, the socialist Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives last night on CBC Radio was complaining that the budget is not a "we" document but rather a "me" one. They also pointed to the need for more money for employment insurance, national child care and housing as evidence of the hard-heartedness of the Tories. I suppose some people will always think it's government's job to put a roof over your head, babysit your kids, and pay you to sit around and do nothing, all at the same time, and if government doesn't do that for you, it's because those running the show are just mean.

Gimme a break.