Shortly after four tomorrow afternoon I will post a budget commentary here, as part of an historic moment. The first Conservative budget since 1993, back in the days when successive governments battled inflation, deficits, high interest rates and a faltering dollar. The times sure have changed.
Tonight I was sitting on a stool in the foyer of the House of Commons, wedged between Mike Duffy and John McCallum. Duff is an okay guy, with an encyclopedic knowledge of Canadian politics. McCallum, I have come to learn in the last week, is a pompous prick. This could be due to the fact he’s going to announce his intention to run for the Liberal leadership job – after he gets hours of face time tomorrow scrumming after the Flaherty budget. His naked aggression is starting to show.
Anyway, in this live segment for Duffy’s show, McCallum just kept repeating himself, and kept getting louder – two of the really useful things you learn from being in politics for a few years. He was referring to Tuesday’s budget as a “reverse Robin Hood†document, since he claims it will take from the poor and give to the wealthy.
In this instance, that means reversing the income tax cut the Libs made in their last pre-defeat budget, and replacing them with a massive slew of reductions – in the GST, in family taxes (thanks for the child care payment), in what seniors pay, in the burden on farmers and students and a host of other areas of life. It means, in a few words, that the promises I made to middle class voters are about to start coming true.
I expect to be able to tell you tomorrow afternoon exactly what it means and the likely consequences. For investors. For single-income families. For homebuyers. For parents. And I make absolutely no apology for this budget actually supporting the middle class, because it is far past the time these folks got a break.
Today middle income-earners are under the financial gun. High real estate prices have resulted in huge mortgages. The cost of energy – gas, oil, hydro – is eating a giant hole in family budgets. Mortgage rates have increased six times. Property taxes are ridiculous.
And, as I wrote here on the weekend, all of this is probably going to get more intense. Oil prices are at an historic high, stoking inflationary pressures, and the American economy is starting to wobble. The price of gold has exploded amid worry about global stability and the fact the US is spending its way into a new hole. It is all breeding fears of still higher interest rates and a whack on the head for real estate values.
So, along comes Jim Flaherty, just when we need him. Personal taxes drop. Families get more support. And the GST chop even restores some affordability to new houses – something I will be championing later this week at events with housing officials in both Ottawa and Halton.
Anyway, more tomorrow. And, by the way, don’t worry that the government decided this afternoon to ban Conservatives MPs from going into a budget lockup. I made a promise. I will deliver.
10 comments ↓
It makes for quite a mess when two ‘pompous pricks’ share the same stage does it not.
McCallum and Duffy? Please be more kind, sir. — Garth
I am an Albertan living in Henderson, NV at the present, but we will be returning to Canada some day. I read your column weekly and now read your blog and comments daily, with great interest. I try to keep up on what is happening in Canada. Being an Albertan, I am so grateful the Conservatives won the last election and I am so hoping you/they will do good things and win a good majority next time. I will be much less sad to return to my homeland if that is the case. Thanks for your good work, sincerely, Bonnie
Kudos on the job you’re doing on behalf of we Halton constituents. You’re definitely living up to your end of the bargain and have given us the kind of representation that must make other Canadians green with envy.
However, reading between the lines of your most recent blog entries, it’s obvious you’re one pissed off dude. So when are you going to unload, bud?
As they say Garth, ‘It takes one to know one’. But having said that, keep up the good work. And were Conservative MP’s really told they could not go into the budget lockup? Methinks you have a bit of a situation on your hands.
Yeah, you could definitely say that. However, I am pleased to let you know all has bene sorted out, and I will be in the lockup to prepare my report for you. — Garth
Garth,
I wish you were my MP but, in a way, I guess you are everyman’s MP.
I think the Liberals are just desperate as it is dawning on them and, hopefully, the electorate that they have very little to offer at this point in time.
GT
Hi Garth,
You can lead politicians to Ottawa, but you can’t make them think or do what is right.
At least you think and appear to do what is right. I am following your career in Ottawa (puzzle palace) with great interest.
Up Yours, Ya know that’s what I told the FP when they stopped putting the dividend info in the printed paper, FP said I could get it on line. Right! Up Yours. It may have not
been important to them but it was to me.
Please put me on your e-mail list for your budget update.
Steven Ruthven
Red Deer, AB
Well my smug, self-satisfied glow does keep me warm at night and I do save on heating plus I can heal lepers with a touch… not the really gross ones, just because I don’t like touching them. Drippy stumps can stain clothes.
Here’s the thing, I’m far from perfect like everyone else but of all my sins I don’t think I’ve ever stomped up to a grieving woman and reminded her that her son died in a tragic accident a year ago for some sort of… well I don’t know why StayDuff did that. And do I really need to dig into the Duffy vault for his other offences over the last two decades?
I’m not asking for perfection from anyone, but decency? Is that too much to ask? Ambition is a wonderful thing but unless it’s tempered with ethics one can end up a Cassius (only in this case not so lean but definitely hungry).
I’m sorry if he’s a buddy of yours and if I’ve caused offence. I’m sure he’s a real sweetheart once you get to know him but from what I’ve seen, what I’ve heard and what I’ve read he doesn’t sound like someone I’d like or someone who deserves consideration but to be fair I’ve never met the man in person.
I won’t give ya my told ya so on McCallum but…….poor John is an x…an x everything…an ex banker, minister, drunk, you name it but rest assured Garth, the rest of those Liberals don’t fall far from the same tree! You’ll find I’m right about this too..
Salvage – you’re a HOOT! I always know it’s you before I even hit the bottom of the post.
Hey Garth – the best thing that could happen to the Conservatives is having McCallum actually win the leadership (fat chance there). His Liberal-ingrained arrogance and slurring belligerence will guarantee a CPC majority next time around.
Looking forward to the budget today. After dropping a few G’s this week for property and income taxes, I could use some good news.
Hey Garth – you want to know what a prick is? Try Jim Flaherty. He’s the man who, when in the Harris government, wanted to make homelessness illegal – now there’s a prick for you.
How about Baird – he’s the man, who when in the Harris government, was party to the decision to sentence a woman who was charged with welfare fraud to confinement in her apartment – this woman was pregnant, this was during a heat wave and the “woman died” – now there’s a prick for you.
A loud voice doesn’t make one a prick – deeds that hurt people makes one a prick.
Oh ya, you are a brave big man by name calling – well, you can guess that I’m not impressed.
Duffy, although I love his humour and knowledge, etc., is spoiling what he has to offer with this constant wink, wink, nudge, nudge gossipy stuff – towards the Liberals. After all, he’s working for a conservative TV station. What a waste of talent. Let’s get beyond the scandal sheet, Inquirer mode and really get into what’s important.