Budgets and Budgets and other news

This week was a big week not just because of the federal budget, but also a few provincial budgets. The Saskatchewan budget appeared to be a last ditch attempt by the NDP to shore up the flagging support. In Nova Scotia the government opted to take the new equalization plan, which will give the province more money in the short-term, but likely wouldn't help in the long-term. While I believe keeping the Atlantic Accord option is the best long-term solution, it will be another six years at least before any of the positive benefits show up and there will be another election between then and hopefully the Atlantic Accord will be fully re-instated. Considering how mistake prone Harper is, my gut instinct says he won't be PM in six years, so I say to all Nova Scotians, be patient. Work hard to defeat Harper next election and you have a good chance at getting a better deal. I would also say the same for Newfoundland & Labrador. It will be interesting to see what the regional polls here say since although the budget seems to have helped the Conservatives federally, I suspect it has hurt them there, although it is too early to tell how bad the damage will be for the Conservatives. Still as someone who values all members of confederation, no party should try it alienate a certain region. If Harper simply didn't understand how angry this would make Atlantic Canadians, fair enough, but he should do the right thing and re-instate the Atlantic Accord. I am not for either province staying on equalization permanately, in fact the sooner we can get them off, the better and that is why I support the Atlantic Accord.

Ontario also delivered its budget, which focused heavily on poverty, I suspect in an effort to woo back soft NDP votes. I am not sure this is the wisest strategy since as I've said elsewhere it is the 905 belt here in Ontario and the middle class who determine the winner so moving to the left only leaves a greater opening for the Ontario PCs. I do support some of the measures since we do need to tackle poverty, but I do believe some modest income tax cuts as well as greater efforts to achieve a balanced budget sooner should have been done. I do not however, support raising the minimum wage to $10.25/hour by 2010, unless other provinces raise their minimum wage to similiar levels. While I understand how difficult it is to live on $10/hour, unfortunately many of these people would not be hired at this wage, so the solution is to develop strategies so people have better skills so they can get higher paying jobs. In addition if our minimum wage is out of whack with other provinces, we could lose business to them. Another possibility is firms will not layoff employees, but will pass on the wage increases in higher prices thus negating the positive effects of a wage increase. One solution I think that should be explored though is having a higher minimum wage in the GTA than elsewhere in Ontario as the cost of living is significantly higher in Toronto than in Rural Ontario so $10/hour means a much lower standard of living if you live in Toronto than elsewhere in Ontario.

In other news, the Tories appear to be approaching majority territory. While I am not too happy about the polls, I am not terribly worried as I've seen poll results fluctuate frequently, so this is only a current snapshot of things, not a prediction or the actual outcome. The only consistency seems to be neither party can easily crack the 40% and both parties generally stay above 30% so its probably a good guess both parties will get between 30-40% next election. Off course in terms of seat breakdown, this could mean anything from the Liberals winning a stronger minority than in 2004 to a small Tory majority, so for Liberals nervous, I say relax, stay focused on the goal and don't panic. We should be concerned, but not give up.

Tom Wappel is retiring and all I can say is good riddance. This guy was to the right of even most Conservative MPs and considering his riding is a safe Liberal riding, I suspect he was only a Liberal of convenience. I just wish he crossed the floor to the Tories so he could get the good ass whopping he deserves. I am all for diversity of views within a party but there is a big difference between disagreeing with the party on individual issues versus disagreeing with their basic principles and philosophy. I fall under the former, Tom Wappel falls under the latter.

Stockwell Day is under investigation for possible ethics breaches back in 2000 as Canadian Alliance leader. I've thought this guy along with Vic Toews and Jason Kenney was too right wing to be a cabinet minister, so I hope this will finally be a way to sack him from cabinet, but I wouldn't count on it.