What's Not To Like?

First off, a whopping debt, over $600-Billion, that's pretty awful. And then there's a deficit of $53.8-billion big ones, that's misery incarnate, no way to balance the nation's books.

So the new budget had to address that pair of bogeymen, and it did, more or less; a little more than less, actually. A 2-year wage freeze for the civil service came as a relief considering what truly drastic measures could have been taken to make the country's bloated but hard-working civil service a scapegoat no one outside the civil service would commiserate with.

Not quite prepared yet to abandon stimulus measures, so there'll be a $19-B extension, and surely that will continue to save some jobs; latest figures are that the country has indeed seen some job growth, to float us a tad higher, along with the last quarter of 2009 5% growth. And that was a very nice gesture, one that all Canadians other than MPs and senators could cheer on; freezing their salaries for the nonce. The corollary to which is the $3.2-B in personal income tax relief.

To which we say, thank you very much. Good messages playing off against eh! ones. A long-overdue national securities regulator.

$62-M to be devoted to elite athletes and amateur sports; now isn't that timely? A new civilian complaints commission for the RCMP; again, overdue, better late than not at all. Clean energy isn't overlooked with $1-B to be devoted to that singular issue, and $300-M for Atomic Energy of Canada and Chalk River laboratories. We're still searching for medical isotope solutions....

This is all very good housekeeping. Who could fault $1-B for training programs for workers? And a big hurrah! for the $4.1-B set aside for social housing. But who can possibly believe that in two years - 2011-2012 the deficit will be cut in half? Also, it makes good sense for the military to gets its boost this year, and then see a reduction in its spending budget in the amount of $2.5 over three years. Makes sense; Afghanistan will be a memory.

Not so nice to know that government plans to cap foreign aid at this year's level with an increase of $364-M for this year, bringing Canada's total foreign aid commitment to $5-B, well below that of other wealthy countries. We can always play catch-up when we're on firmer financial ground in the near future. NGOs will fault us but one gets a little weary with it all; theirs is a burgeoning industry, and foreign aid is needful yes, but there are so many unanswered questions.

Why, one might ask to begin with, would medical tax deductions for purely cosmetic purposes such as liposuction, hair replacement, botulinum toxin injections and teeth whitening quality? The elimination of manufacturing tariffs will help Canadian industry. Increased assistance for single-parent households and funding partnerships with charitable organizations gets a big OK.

Cutting appointments to boards and commissions by 245 positions; long overdue. The Conservative budget has not forgotten victims of crime, aboriginal and northern communities, disabled people and their families, and seniors. And there's an additional $10-M earmarked for the Paralympians, along with $2-M to Special Olympians. Not overly generous, but needful operating expenses.

There's more of the little stuff, like $28-M for CSIS operations improvements; $6-M for ParticipACTION, $45-M for subsidizing healthy food into the North, and a whole host of other responsible government tips-of-the-hat.

The NDP grumbles, the Liberals scoff, but claim they won't bring down the government just yet, and the Bloc Quebecois, true to form outright opposes. Anything. Everything. All the Time.