Harper budget: Ignatieff ‘frosty’
p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- “I never thought of many of these ideas,” says Frazer in a Reader’s Write to Michael Geist’s thoughts on the new budget, due today.
Having narrowly escaped being taken down by an opposition coalition before Christmas, George W. Harper’s tottering government hopes to remains standing with a budget which will adequately address Canada’s serious economic problems which, he said last year, wouldn’t seriously affect Canadians.
Frazer says he believes Geist raised a number of good points, adding, “I’d like to see digital broadcasting sooner than 2011!”
It’ll be interesting to see if Harper comes up with anything which’ll make Geist or Frazer happy — and whether or not the Liberals and NDP will let him stay in power a little while longer so he can be brought down in ignominy at a time of their choosing.
Meanwhile, here’s Frazer in his soldier in the trenches blog »»»
The Federal Budget is coming out today. I’m hoping but not optimistic for some of the following to happen….
- Low income housing
- Public Transit Cash for smaller cities and towns not the major metro areas
- Help for small companies
- Tax breaks
What I don’t want to see…
- Tax breaks for the rich
- bailouts of bad business
The Do-dos broken down
Low income housing…
I want to see more money for low income housing. I want to see it done properly. I’d rather see good quality rent geared to income housing. I’ve seen stories on the news of these low income housing units that are dumps! I’d like to see this done in large metropolitan areas and smaller areas. I’d like to see green measures taken for this housing. Like energy efficient windows and doors and efficient stoves, fridges and appliances. All this will make the low income housing more sustainable. I’d also like to see good security measures. CCTV cameras and on site maintenance teams and managers. We don’t need more crime in these low income housingPublic Transit…
The reason I don’t want to see a tonne of cash go to the TTC and the big metropolitan areas because they have systems that don’t force people into cars. In the town I live in (Niagara Falls) the poor quality of the public transit is forcing people into cars and not the other way around. Not to mention the lack of regional transit. We have 5 or 6 towns within a 10 minute drive of each other and we cannot get between the two by bus other than greyhound. It would be nice to see a universal bus pass like colleges sell that allow us to use them in any of the regional transit systems.Help for small Companies…
I want to see money go to help small business because they are the ones who drive the economy. If they can’t make payroll it hurts people beyond the owner. We need to help them go green and more efficient. One small company I am thinking of is an automotive parts store and they use an old 1998 Chevy Astrovan. It’s not very fuel efficient and I think they could use even a newer van or newer vehicle to save on gas but I’m sure they can’t afford to do it much less get a loan to get with the banks not lending.Tax breaks…
I understand that this is in the budget. It makes sense to cut taxes so that people have more cash in their pockets to put into the economy. Now I’m not talking GST or PST tax cuts, that is just a couple cents unless you are buying a house or car and hardly effects the economy in my point of view. I’m talking more of a break on bus passes and home based business deductions. The stuff that makes a difference in peoples lives.The don’t dos broken down
Tax breaks for the rich
Lets face it the rich are the least affected by this economy. Sure their portfolios have lost millions but they still have billions in investments and six or seven figure incomes to support them. If times get tough they could downgrade to a smaller car and house to be more effective with their money. The rich are in the best place in this bad economy.Bail outs for bad business
I don’t see why tax payers should bail out companies that messed up. I don’t agree with the bail out of the auto industry. They build massive trucks and SUVs that people don’t want anymore. If I did a bad business move I’d have to bail myself out. The government wouldn’t give me the time of day so why should we bail out bad business?This is what I do and don’t want to see in the federal budget. I think the government needs to focus on everyday people not big business and bad business. Like I said I’m hopeful but not optimistic. The government doesn’t really listen to the people that much unless they line up with the governments desires.
‘ … there’s a problem of trust’
In her crown speech yesterday, governor general Michaelle Jean, “used language employed in the past two weeks by Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, in a signal that the Conservatives want to meet his requirements,”says the Toronto Star, adding »»»
It vowed to “protect the vulnerable: the unemployed, lower-income Canadians, seniors, aboriginal Canadians and others hit hardest by the global economic recession.”
But it got a frosty reception from Ignatieff, who said he will only be convinced when he sees the budget.
He said he’ll consult with advisers overnight and caucus tomorrow before revealing whether the Liberals will defeat the government.
“The stubborn reality is that there’s a problem of trust,” Ignatieff told reporters, referring to last fall’s throne speech and the subsequent economic update that enraged the opposition parties, who signed an agreement to defeat the Tories and form a coalition government. The update contained little in the way of economic stimulus, but proposed to take away the rights of federal workers to strike, clamp down on pay equity and eliminate public subsidies for political parties. Facing defeat of his government, Harper persuaded Jean to suspend Parliament until yesterday.
“This government appears to have a split personality,” Ignatieff said. “One time it uses one language, another time it uses another, and our difficulty … is figuring out which government to believe.”
Stay tuned.
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UPDATE > Click here for Stephen Harper`s Bail-Out Budget
Michael Geist’s thoughts – Will Canada budget put tech back on track? January 21, 2009
Toronto Star – January 27, 2009
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January 27th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
I like the sound of Conservatives and Liberals (minus that idiot Dion) working together. The Liberals need to detach themselves from the Left-leaning parties if they want any chance in the next election, because I believe that Canadian voters prefer parties that are more in the “center” of the political spectrum.
The thing that disturbs me a bit is that the NDP and Bloc stated that they would vote against the budget no matter what. NO MATTER WHAT! That is a sure sign that neither of these parties have Canada’s best interests at heart and are only serving themselves, as we all know that the threat of a coalition is what made the Conservatives come up with this budget, which will no doubt contain some provisions that all opposition parties would agree with.
If anything, this coalition nonsense has ensured that I will not vote for any Federal party member unless he has a Conservative or Liberal membership.
January 27th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Its time for CHANGE.
A coalition gov is the only way to achieve change.
The conservatives, Harper and his croonies, already played their cards and they are not for the people, Canadian innovation, Science, technology, green plans, or whats good Canada.
Its self-motivated corporate greed. That’s the Conservative and Harpers’ (croonies et al) agenda.
January 27th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
ON CBC right now: The Harper gov is removing the woman’s right to go to court to file for “equal pay for equal work”.
January 27th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/01/27/budget-reaction.html
NDP, Bloc come out against budget
I hope to hell Ignatieff jumps in now.
January 27th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
It will be interesting to see if Ignatieff shows some guts (voting Yes), takes a stab at a power grab that will likely cripple his party’s chances for a decade (voting No), or just be yet another grandstanding wuss and abstain.
January 28th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Awe yes, Harper the astute economist who didnât want to do anything (or was too stupid
to see anything) in November is our savior? What a joke. At least the Liberals with their,
as Dean Wermer would say, âsecret double probationâ know an election or coalition is
better fought or brought later in the year. Let Harper go back and micro manage the
Canadian Taxpayer Federation or firewall Alberta. I wish I were a fly on the wall in the
PMO today as the necon pinheads fume over Liberal oversight.