03.22.2011 03:39 PM

Budget bit

It’s a campaign budget.  Something in there for everyone, etc.  That’s what I just told CITY-TV, anyway.

But that’s not the best part.  The best part came at the start, when Flaherty intoned that his was a government based on “principle,” quote unquote.

And the camera swung to reveal Bev Oda peering over his shoulder.

52 Comments

  1. Ron says:

    Just saw Jack Layton speak, and he says in its present form the NDP will not support the budget…Duceppe and Iggy are not supporting therefore it looks like a May election…or will there be

    or will Jack and Iggy go to Rideau hall and say the house has lost confidence and the opposition parties will form a coalition

    Are the attack ads right?????

    Time will tell

  2. Harith says:

    The oppositions is united in not supporting the budget!!!!

  3. Michael S says:

    All three opposition parties are opposed. Election up!

  4. Al in Cranbrook says:

    Got the very distinct impression that John Manley thought it was a fine budget. Indeed, I’m don’t doubt Liberals everywhere were cringing as he spoke.

    IMHO, Layton and Iggy just handed a majority to Harper that’s his to lose.

    And Harper ain’t gonna let that happen.

    • Jan says:

      I always cringe when Manley speaks. Nothing very liberal about him. Is he even a member of the Liberal party?

      • The Doctor says:

        As far as the left wing of the Liberal Party is concerned, no. The same sentiments were often expressed re: Paul Martin Jr., Roy McLaren, and so on . . .

  5. What did the federal accountability legislation ever amount to? Did it make a difference – critics say it was riddled with holes.

    Ironic.

  6. Ted says:

    If they are already self-framing the ballot question (or at least one of them) as a principle/ethics one right in his budget speech, and the media are already going with that as the ballot question (or at least one of them) during his budget speech, then the Liberals chances just got a whole heck of a lot better.

  7. DL says:

    You went out on a limb to predict the NDP would support the budget. It appears your limb has been sawed off…happy landing!

    • The Doctor says:

      I don’t think WK is alone in being surprised. I think Warren’s got a lot of company on that sawed-off limb.

  8. smelter rat says:

    I guess he really is a “joker”.

  9. James says:

    I am in my mid-20’s, and I find it kind of depressing that our political leaders govern in such small, timid strokes.

    Eventually people are going to want a government that both believes in government and is unafraid to try new things. Hopefully we get one soon.

    PS. The most helpful part of the upcoming election from a liberal perspective is that at worst we are going to have either a majority Conservative government – at which point people will see how ugly the fake-populist, hyper-partisan, law-and-order dunderheads really are – or a minority Conservative government that leads to this grotestque partisan toad that we call prime miniser retire to private life.

    • Chris says:

      My thoughts exactly.

      We need this election to move things one way or the other.

      The Liberal party needs this as well. Ignatieff has to go through an election and either perform well or move on.

  10. Scott Tribe says:

    Did you see your former mentor JC giving some statements on contempt and advice to Iggy? Seems like he’s hinting not to be afraid of going to an election.

    http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/958042–chretien-warns-contempt-ruling-is-serious

    I like that guy. Bet he could win the election now if he was leader.

  11. michael hale says:

    NDP will use the fact that they want to table an amendment to the budget to justify skipping/supporting a Lib non-confidence motion. Even if Cons turn down the amendment, the NDP want to look like the party that tried “to make parliament work” (I still haven’t figured out voting on a non-confidence motion isn’t “working” since it’s part of the procedures they all buy into, but whatever…)

    I have to wonder what the Libs are doing. If the Cons really are hurting and their teflon has finally cracked, why not wait a few months until you can really bury them?

  12. michael hale says:

    And Oda’s just creepy.

  13. allegra fortissima says:

    If Jack Layton flips to the Conservative budget, the end result will be an orange flop – NDP voters won’t like it!

    • DL says:

      ummm…check the news stories around the vote on scrapping the long gun registry. It WAS a free vote in the NDP caucus and 6 NDP MPs voted for the private members bill to scrap the registry.

  14. Tim says:

    After watching Dwight Duncan on CBC I wonder if there is there is certain similarity to 2008 going on right now. Leading up to 2008 Harper main strategy was to woo Quebec and Charest to get his majority only for it to go up in smoke once the election started over the issue of culture cuts. I believe by the time of the actual election occured things had gotten so bad Charest was essentially campaigning against Harper. Now for the last two and a half years Harper has been trying to woo Ontario and McGuinty to get his majority but as of today Dwight Duncan seems to be as anti Harper as Charest was back in 2008. So I sense given I think Iggy will do better at least in Ontario than most people think I wonder if Harper’s Ontario strategy is now going to up in smoke like his Quebec strategy. There other circumstance is everyone thought the ADQ’s breakthrough in 2007 meant Quebec was becoming much more red meat conservative ala Rob Ford’s election in Toronto only for the ADQ to end being a flash in the pan.

    Now one thing I did find interesting was during question period at Queen’s Park Andrea Horwath was essentially being baited on the fact the NDP would support the Federal budget so at least the people around McGuinty thought there was a good possibility until 4:00PM Jack would cave.

    • James Curran says:

      Don’t worry Gord. CPC will be losing seats in PQ without Charest’s help. Can you say “Arena”?

      • hugger says:

        With Flaherty announcing the gas tax money for infrastructure as a permanent policy now, doesn’t that open the door to use that money in such a way that they can then divert other funds toward the Arena?

        That’s what I was thinking when I heard that last evening.

  15. fritz says:

    Well were off and I for one am happy to get on with it. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks to change the perceptions we now have as to what will happen. The Tories will go with the budget/platform but that will be old news by next week. The opposition will throw the ethics book at the government but I’m not sure that has legs either.
    Most voters already know who they will choose and the few the parties fight over will most likely decide not on some policy or ad buy but on some error, unknown event or bad policy decision made by either the CPC or the Liberals. Some past examples of these errors, events or decisions are the RCMP investigation of Ralph Goodale; the defunding of arts organizations and the over the top ad featuring Jean Chretien physical defect.
    What event(s) will change the common wisdom of what’s going to happen we don’t know yet. Will Vic Toews say something truly stupid? There’s a pretty good chance he will. Will Iggy melt down in the heat of the campaign? Maybe.

  16. nic coivert says:

    The budget is 30 billion for planes and about a third of that for prisons. These are the big numbers that will be debated.

    • hugger says:

      Small gov’t, hah! You are like a bad stand up comic Tulk. Small PMO too?

    • hugger says:

      The topic was the CPC and it’s record increases in not only the number of civil servants but also the use of consultants and I threw in a reference to the largest PMO in history. Stay on the road and out of the ditch and justify those realities in respect to your constant association of the CPC with small government.

  17. This is the ‘dollar store’ budget.

    Billions for pet projects, trinkets for the majority of Canadians.

    Arrogance? Only an election will tell.

  18. hugger says:

    It’s not what is in the budget, it’s what isn’t. Besides that, the larger spending issues will haunt the Cons every day of the campaign and only biased people such as yourself will ignore the scandalous behaviour of your team. As far as the memes are concerned, I don’t think they make nearly as many quiver as you seem to think. Given there are more than ample current issues to make people doubt anything the CPC says, those are just Jack and the beanstalk stories now.

    Another thing that stands out at this point, is the irresponsible use of tax dollars for self promotion, and coupled with their own 12 mil or so, the Cons have accomplished nothing more than to show themselves as the poor cousins of Amerika’s GOP.

  19. Lord Kitchener says:

    do the Liberals have enough $$$ in the warchest to run an effective election campaign?

    A coalition government seems likely so that party fund raising can go into full swing over the summer; but, with so many provincial elections, the Liberals risk voter fatigue, at least in Ontario.

    Would it be most expedient for the Opposition to posture and increase the volume on the allegations Cons’ corruption? Ignatief needs to show he is leadership material, this could very well be his dress rehearsal — i dont think (the voting) Canadians hate Harper enough to go with the alternative yet; especially with an untested horse

  20. James Curran says:

    Manley stopped being a “Liberal” as soon as he got a job. He does not speak for us. He speaks for his pockets.

    • Al in Cranbrook says:

      Kinda ironic. The one Liberal that I, as a Conservative, worried about were he to succeed Chretien, and certainly Martin, was John Manley.

      But, as he noted when questioned as to why he wasn’t in the race to replace Martin, to paraphrase: “The job description isn’t quite what it was three years ago.”

      No kidding!!!

      I doubt he ever recognizes the LPC these days, ya think?

      Just sayin’…

    • James Curran says:

      Wrong again Gord. Those days are looooong gone.

  21. Northern PoV says:

    Support a grassroots campaign to defeat the Harper gang: http://catch22campaign.ca/

  22. James Curran says:

    Chantal will not be voting for Mr. Harper.

  23. hugger says:

    “If the oppo parties want to go to the polls on this issue there may be hell to pay. ”

    Try as you may, you will never come close to being Lorne Greens equal. There will only ever be one real Voice of Doom.

    Seems to me I saw Refoormmmmmm culters chanting as high as 43% support just days ago. Your fear is palpable.

    • Pete says:

      The harvest will be much less than anticpated Mr. Tulk and Mr. Angry will lose by a penis!!!

    • hugger says:

      Yeah, and Hitler was all excited when he started Operation Barbarossa. He also built models of great cities and dreamed of a 1,000 year Reich.

      Goodwin be damned.

      • Nikki Sharpe says:

        Wow, first you smear all Albertans as bigots in the Neo-nazi thread now you Godwin all Conservatives…..way to raise the discourse and represent the Liberal brand.

        • hugger says:

          I don’t represent Liberals or the party, but you apparently represent the Western Reform element of the CPC. You can sure dish it out but are the first to cry foul when you perceive an opportunity to do so, whether you have any actual basis or not has no bearing on the amount of unwarranted righteous indignation you will engage in.

          I most certainly have pointed to hateful, selfish and demeaning comments made by Conservative political leaders and organizers from Alberta and if that offends you, I suggest you take it up with them, which is what you should have done to begin with instead of giving them your support.

        • Nikki Sharpe says:

          Actually I’m a Liberal. A proud one. But I guess to you anyone from Alberta has to be a conservative right? And therefore subject to scorn and derision due to your regional grudges. You drive-by smear an entire province as racist because you don’t like their political leaders. You represent the most base type of politics….division, and it’s pathetic.

      • hugger says:

        You are nothing more than an a apologist and you can claim whatever affiliation you like. Maybe a Manley Liberal? Facts are facts whether you like them or not, so suck it up buttercup.

        • Nastyboy says:

          To paraphrase this guy’s excellent column, comparing anyone to nazis except actual nazis makes you sound like a clown, an imbecile and an infant.

          http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-seitzman/my-nazi-can-beat-up-your_b_260710.html

        • Nikki Sharpe says:

          I’m an apologist because I don’t think every Albertan is a racist like you do? Because I don’t think anyone who doesn’t agree with me is a Nazi? You’re pathetic.

        • Bruce Wayne says:

          Hugger, calling an entire province racist and your opponents nazis may work over at 4chan but i’d like to think we progressives are better than that. Especially the ones that post on Warren’s site. You’re embarrassing yourself dude. Just stop.

        • hugger says:

          Clearly I can’t help either of you with your reading and comprehension skills, so you will just have to make do the best you can.

          I do have a question however; is your other brother Darryl going to show up too?

        • Ashia says:

          The politics of regional division is a CPC tactic hugger. All regions in Canada are important and all Canadians deserve respect. You’re bigoted view of Alberta is disgraceful.

  24. Chubsy Ubsy says:

    Right in time for Iggy to have himself a wonderful summer vacation in France upon his return to Harvard in the autumn.

  25. Pete says:

    One sign the election was coming even beofre the budget is the 16 page stapled 10% sent out by the absolute fake of a Tory MP in my riding THAT ARRIVED IN MAIL BOXES LATE LAST WEEK AND MONDAY OF THIS WEEK. They call him the funeral man here in Oakville.

  26. Emily says:

    It makes me sick , this ranting on about strategy and ‘winning’. There are no winners from a “no vision” budget designed as an electoral tool. The big losers watch and wait , hoping to see those who will ultimately pay and are yet to be born. This is no country for old women.

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