Did I hear my ears correctly? Did Michael Ignatieff say the throne speech looked more like “regurgitation” than recalibration. Really Michael?? Regurgitation?
Are you actually saying that this throne speech is chunder? That it heaves? That it blows chunks? Seriously? You couldn’t find any other way to say you didn’t like it?
I am glad the government is doing things that aren’t expensive. I’m glad that Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty is starting to show some fiscal constraint. The budget tomorrow is slated to reduce the deficit and being a fiscal conservative I expect to be smiling once it is all over.
The massive spending that was undertaken in the last 12 months was needed but fiscal constraint now will show that the spending was real stimulus and not structural in nature. With the Americans on the verge of signing up for universal Obamacare (which IS structural in nature… and certainly not cheap), and economies of several countries in turmoil, it will set the tone for the world in terms of what other nations should do and put us in a well respected situation. Our credit rating is good. We manage ourselves well.
The country my parented emigrated from, Greece, has raised their sales tax from 19 to 21% and announced cuts of 30% to public service workers. By comparison, this Flaherty/Harper budget will not raise taxes but instead shows simple fiscal restraint and will trim some fat. The salaries of our elected officials will freeze along with office budgets, but pensions will be unaffected.
This is all good.
I would rather see the budget balanced but I think heading towards the $2B by 2014-15 is a big step back in the right direection. Iggy and Jacko may not like it, but that just means it will be my kind of budget.