Budget

[Hopperbin]

Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton so far opposed the budget by making sounds what sounded like a donkey in heat. Not sure what they were trying to say really. So tomorrow we find out what Michael Ignatieff has to say.

[Fransisco]

You can take a detailed look at the budget here.

http://www.budget.gc.ca/2009/plan/bpc3e-eng.html#7

[Fransisco]

Oh, goody I can write off a new laptop! That'll kickstart the economy for sure.

"Introducing a temporary 100-per-cent capital cost allowance (CCA) rate for computers acquired after January 27, 2009 and before February 1, 2011. "

[Hopperbin]

At least we can understand what Michael has to say. My best guess is that he does not want anything to do with those other 2 assholes.

[Kodiak]

Andrew Coyne sums things up..........

Say what you like about the Tories: they don’t do things by halves. When they spend, they spend. When they go into debt, they do it $100-billion at a time. And when they decide to put an end to conservatism in Canada — as a philosophy, as a movement—they go out with a bang.

We can safely say that the strategy of incrementalism, at least, has been put to bed. With this historic budget, the Conservatives’ already headlong retreat from principle has become a rout: a great final leap into the void. For there will be no going back from this, for the party or for the country. Whatever the budget’s soothing talk of “temporary” this and “extraordinary” that, and for all its well-mannered charts showing spending obediently returning to its pen, deficits meekly subsiding, “investments” repaid in full, we are in fact headed somewhere we have never been before. We are on course towards a massive and permanent increase in the size and scope of government: record spending, sky-high borrowing, and — ultimately, inevitably — higher taxes. And all this before the first of the Baby Boomers have had a chance to retire, and cough up a lung.

[haveapulse]

Deficits and Debt are fine if you build or create something tangible with it; a means to an end to create value. However, if the plan has no long term lasting results in creating meaningful lasting employment, and economic restructuring of jobs (I note we suggested incentives for value add to build jobs, but nothing was in the budget for that but on the good side I can get that new carpet and get a tax credit for that!) then the danger is the deficit is a void that will to be filled by taxes. As a baby boomer I have had a great life, it is our children that will need to support us, better hope for oxygen tanks for a while so we can help them. Retirement...? didn't think there was civil servants with indexed pensions in this group (by the way can indexed pensions go down or just up, (I digress!).

[furrowtickler]

Why is it that the baby boomer's children are expected to carry the retirement load for them. At the same time we are told that we have to put away much more than anyone else ever for our own retirement . So not only do we have to pay more for land than ever before, inputs are the highest in history, cost of living highest in history, and expected to pay through the nose for two retirements! Just a little reality check for those who scoff at us younger generation farmers.

[liberty]

This budget proves beyond a doubt that the Conservatives have no clue as to why Canada is in a recession, and no clue as to what to do about it. This recession was not caused by some unforseen, tragic accident. It's a result of the decline of our industrial infrastructure, which has been throttled by high taxes, regulations and powerful unions. Like the United States, we are bleeding jobs to countries like China, Mexico, Brazil and India.

It used to be the case that these jobs were in so-called "sweatshop" industries, but that is not so much the case any longer. A lot of the industries moving offshore are highly capitalized, high-tech concerns.

The budget failed miserably to address any of these problems. I have an important question for PM Harper: just how is Canada's lack of industrial competitiveness going to be enhanced by building hockey rinks and "social" housing?

[furrowtickler]

liberty, this mess we are all in was caused by b/s banking regulations in the U.S. If they had a Canadian system in place, I doubt any of this would be an issue. It is time that people get beyond their political beliefs in this country and have a look at the world around us. Canada is currently much better off than almost any nation on earth, -get a grip man. This whole situation can not be pinned on any one person in Canada, liberal - ndp - conservative - green.
Some tough lesons are about to be given out though to - unions - oil patch workers ect, that have been milking the system for a long time. This happens every time when a downturn in the economy happens.
Time will tell on this budget, but no other party in Cannda is/was in any position to do sfa anyway.

[Hopperbin]

I believe our natural resources will eventually pull our economy out. If the price of our raw products didn't collapse our country would likely be seeing 60 billion surplus instead of deficit.
Anyways waiting for this news conference that was supposed to be at 11 am ET. Sorta like waiting for the judge to be back with the verdict.

[dalek]

Thought I was the only one that noticed that furrowtickler.

[Hopperbin]

Ignatieff is proposing amendments and accountability to deliver promises.

[boarderbloke]

has anyone been able to determine if there was any short term or long term funding for the Environmental Farm Plan or the CSFSP