Once More, With Feeling!

Everything old around Ottawa is new again, as a budget gets reissued with the political equivalent of obscure bonus tracks.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty introduced the federal budget yesterday with a minor tweak or two (namely the per-vote subsidy) to differentiate it from the one introduced in March. The Sun chain's Michael Den Tandt greets it as proof that Prime Minister Stephen Harper “meant what he said about making no sudden moves” throughout the campaign. “If he intended to impose a radical agenda, would this not be the time to do it, in Year One of a four-year mandate? Tough love doesn’t go over well in pre-election periods.” The original pressing and the reissue are both about as ho-hum as one can expect from federal politicians. As for the Liberals, Den Tandt figures they “will read this budget with blurry eyes, as they sob in their beer. Could we not have just said yes to this a couple of months ago?”

While the budget might be short on policy, Lawrence Martin of The Globe And Mail supposes it's the signature document of “the politics of low expectations.” Instead of promising nation-building prospects, or getting down to work on cutting the deficit, the Tories have brought forth tax breaks for volunteer firefighters and an end to subsidies for political parties. “Set the bar high, and you probably won’t reach it,” says Martin. “Big promises are promises that often go unfulfilled. The lesson learned is not to make them,” while essentially fiddling around the edges. Shocking as it might sound, it almost seems like the Conservative are acting ... conservatively.

And what of the deficit? The Tories promise to find $4 billion to cut each year until the books are back in the black by 2014-15, but as the Toronto Star's Tim Harper points out, there's been nary a concrete word of what programs will be axed. “There was none of the consensus-building or commitment to transparency one might look for before embarking on the largest cut to government spending in 15 years,” just instruction for departments to review each program and ask, “why was it created, is it necessary and is it fulfilling its goal?” The ever-smiling Flaherty tries to come off as an “amiable executioner,” says Harper, but at least executioners have an idea of where they're going to cut.