The NDP met with Finance Minister Flaherty today to pass on their views. Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff also met to discuss the upcoming budget and the coalition. Busy times.
I believe the view taken by the NDP (per their spokesman and Number 2) is the correct one with respect to Harper and his submissive Tory government:
“Before Christmas, Mr. Harper said the stimulus package in the Jan. 27 budget would be $20-billion to $30-billion, but for the prime minister and the Conservatives, that stimulus package could be a combination of new spending and tax cuts. The NDP says tax cuts so far haven't helped and they won't help now. The NDP wants at least $30-billion in new spending programs. "Tax cuts are great if you still have your job, but if you're one of the 400,000 people in manufacturing who have lost your job, tax cuts aren't going to help very much," Mr. Mulcair said.”
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1173227
What we need for the next two years is the expenditure of significant amounts of ‘hard’ money, spent on soft and hard infrastructure projects.
What we don’t need is tax cuts, which will not be enough to reassure Canadians that they still have a job to go to.
Good conclusion, Dippers.
