After the near-death experience for the Harper Conservatives in November, I expected Prime Minister Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to table a budget that would be responsive to growing concerns about the state of the Canadian economy.

And I admit, many of the budget leaks leading up to the official announcement made it seem like Harper was finally in touch with this reality – the proposed increased spending on infrastructure and programmes would provide jobs while tax cuts would spur consumer spending.

When the budget was finally tabled, it did address a number of these issues. And while I applaud the government for making much-needed (and highly uncharacteristic) investments in social spending, they really missed the ball on one key issue …

Employment Insurance (EI).
(more…)

“Do not criticize your government when out of the country. Never cease to do so when at home.”
Winston Churchill

OK….I admit it.

This is a slightly re-worked reprint of a column I wrote back in 2006. It even had one of my customary inflammatory titles, but I fear InformedVote.ca might not be ready to entertain me in all of my salty, fight-provoking glory yet. I’ll give you a hint though…the previous title implied Stephen Harper is soooooo enamoured of a certain country to our immediate South, that he metaphorically got down on his knees and….uhmmm….pleasured them.

Now, there is a perfectly good reason why I have chosen this column to reprint and there’s even a reason why I do so today.
(more…)