A Perfectly Cromulent Politics Blog
When procrastinating from law school, I write about politics, tech, or whatever else I'm interested in. Feel free to tweet me up (@devinjohnston).
When procrastinating from law school, I write about politics, tech, or whatever else I'm interested in. Feel free to tweet me up (@devinjohnston).
Posted by Devin Johnston on February 2nd, 2009
Posted by Devin Johnston on January 29th, 2009
Posted by Devin Johnston on January 28th, 2009
Following up on on my likes and dislikes about the federal budget, I would like to endorse the comments made by A BCer in Toronto. In brief, Jeff argues that although the budget is not supportable as-is (and not nearly as good as the budget that a Liberal-NDP coalition would write), it can be amended to make it tolerable. He proposes three critical amendments: removing the provincial/municipal matching requirements for infrastructure funding, strengthening employment insurance, and getting rid of the attack on pay equity. I would add one or two additional amendment proposals, but if these changes were accepted the budget would be passable (although still short of what a Liberal-NDP government could do). Let's hope that Iggy moves forward with these amendment proposals.
Posted by Devin Johnston on January 27th, 2009
Today, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty unveiled the much anticipated Federal Budget 2009. Among the details are $83.8 billion in deficits over the next four years, $20 billion in personal income tax relief over four years, $12 billion in federal infrastructure spending, etc. The combined spending and tax cuts will see Canada's national debt increase from $457.6 billion in 2007-2008 to a projected $542.4 billion in 2012-2013. Macleans editor Andrew Coyne opines that this is the end of conservatism in Canada. I think that it is safe to say the the Conservatives have made some significant concessions to the opposition parties here, while also retaining some of their own ideas about how to kick start the economy. On about 80% of the issues, I think that this is the most that the opposition can reasonably expect from a Conservative government. However, I still believe the budget should be defeated, for reasons I will get to at the end of the post. But first, my likes and dislikes about the budget.
Posted by Devin Johnston on January 25th, 2009
Some time ago, New Democrat MP Peter Stoffer took issue with Jack Layton announcing that the NDP would vote against the upcoming federal budget without seeing it first. Despite being a Laytonista, I agreed with Stoffer: in the interests of a working democracy, the opposition parties should at least read the budget first before jumping to any conclusions. If the budget proves problematic, it is open to the opposition to amend it. On the other hand, I is equally dubious for the Conservative Party to run a series of radio ads encouraging Canadians to support the budget before it has been released. Further, the secrecy surrounding the budget is unnecessary and limits opposition MPs and the public from participating in the policy-making process.
