Fear and Anxiety

"Will it protect the most vulnerable? Will it save jobs? And most important of all, will it create the jobs of tomorrow?" Fair questions, Mr. Ignatieff; we most certainly hope the new budget will attempt to do all of that and more. Seven days to go. Another week before the Liberal Party of Canada can exercise its option to support the Conservative-led government, or to deny its support.

The New Democratic Party is less equivocal about its intent. It will most certainly seek to deny Prime Minister Stephen Harper an extended prime ministership. Jack Layton has wasted no time in stating that his party will choose to vote against the budget, sight unseen. Whatever the government includes in the budget, inclusive of the NDP suggestions, Mr. Layton will choose to force a coalition. Again.

The NDP's budget proposals to the enquiring Conservatives are good ones. An additional $400 credit for the child tax, an increase of the Canada Pension Plan payments, and much-needed Employment-Insurance reform. All of these initiatives would be welcome, in helping Canadians, particularly in these economic doldrums. So why threaten to vote against the budget if it contains these elements?

For his part, Michael Ignatieff, newly installed, sans democratic vote, as the new leader of the Liberals, claims his party remains "the party of hope for all Canadians". In his wildest dreams. They've had their party and it turned out to be fairly disappointing, distinguished by social policy failures and government corruption.

What his party and the NDP have been busy doing in the last while, is trying to instill a climate of fear and insecurity in the Canadian population. Helped to a great extent by the news media who just revel in pronouncing on dire economic conditions and forecasts, even if those predictions are anything but universal.

Thanks, but no thanks. There's a long road to travel before the Liberals can be viewed again as holding any kind of reliable promise for Canadians as the governing party. Blaming the Conservative government at this juncture following the collapse of the international money markets, for spending too freely and exposing Canada's vulnerable to a deficit thereby is a tad self-serving.

It is current world conditions, led by a defaulting sub-prime debacle in the United States, that has imposed stringent economic conditions upon Canada, which is still in comparatively good financial shape, not Conservative mismanagement. We all want programs invested by government funds reflective of the need for more social housing and a quick commencement on public infrastructure leading to security and jobs.

The current government has done well with its governing mandate as a minority government up until now. There need be no haste to remove them from office, and the general public is not sympathetic to that aspiration on the part of the Liberals and the NDP. They got slapped down once, and it shouldn't be necessary to have that repeated.

It looks tediously as though that's about to happen again. Pity.