Leaving aside the obvious question of where this new found knowledge came from -- wasn't it a month ago we were hearing something different? -- there is now some real hope that a serious budget may be offered and an election avoided.
The bad economic choices already made -- most obviously the GST cut -- are done so we have to work with what we have. (Didn't the Conservatives read the Bible story of Joseph? Or at least watch the musical? Seven fat years etc etc). If the Conservatives offer a genuinely productive budget it will get support in the House.
2 comments:
A month ago (and up to two months ago) the Tories, NDP and Liberals ALL said they wouldn't run a deficit. The GST cut would cost $32.5 Billion over five years and while it may not have been the best economic move, it came at a time when economists and more importantly, voters were demanding that government do something to lower taxes in this country. Cuts to income tax would have cost far more than the GST cut and if they hadn't cut the GST, the government of the time could increase the basic personal exemption on successive years and that would have cost more than the GST cut. Finally, even without the GST cut, we would STILL being going into deficit to combat the economic crisis we keep hearing about. This is an irrefutable fact: even if nobody in the world had heard of Stephen Harper and the Liberals had never lost an election, the Liberals themselves were they the government would be going into deficit right now.
Office,
Fair enough -- point well taken.
james
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