Better late than never, says the old adage, and the welcome news today is that the Liberals are finally preparing an alternative budget, in case the Tories lose the confidence vote and the coalition government is invited by the Governor General to form the government (as our parliamentary conventions require):
“The Liberals are drawing up their own provisional budget in the event that opposition parties defeat the Conservatives over the Jan. 27 stimulus package and install their own coalition government.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has warned the threat to bring down Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government remains alive and his party will judge the Conservative budget on whether it protects the "vulnerable," safeguards employment and creates "jobs of the future."
Liberal MP John McCallum, who chairs the party's economics committee, said this means the party must be prepared to govern and lay out a budget.
"We don't know yet whether we will pass the [Conservative] budget and whether there may be a coalition government so we have to prepare for all contingencies."”
The Liberals are also in contact with the NDP. I assume the NDP is preparing its own version of the coalition budget, so that both parties could hit the road running if (hopefully) they are called upon to form the next government in a week or two.
Having an alternative budget prepared enables both parties to compare the Tory one to their own, and will make it much clearer where the Tory deficiencies lie.
I also assume that the Liberal budget will provide for the federal government injecting funds into the economy as a stimulus, without passing the buck by requiring the provincial and municipal governments to contribute as a condition precedent. It seems that the Tories have told the mayors of our big cities that the Tories will be requiring matching funds:
“"We have faced a Harper government that's been completely in denial and has rejected the idea that we need to have strong economic action in key sectors, that we should invest in infrastructure to get jobs created right now," Layton said. But he said it's unreasonable to make the investments contingent on cash-strapped municipalities contributing one-third of the cost of any projects. "It's an old trick because the federal government knows the municipalities can't come up with the money . . . so the money will sit there and nothing will happen," said Layton, a former Toronto councillor.”
Requiring matching funds is simply another way for Harper’s Tories to promise a stimulus package but to welsh on it at the same time; evidently Harper believes that spin is a substitute for substance.
