Harper and Flaherty are set to end the coalition for good with their new budget.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Friday January 9th, that the new budget will be big, it will be comprehensive, and it will be actionable over the next 3 – 5 years. In what is said to be the largest budget Canadians have seen in a long time, it will cover a large scope of economic challenges and opportunities that are forecasted for Canada. With the announcement of over 34,000 jobs lost in December alone, this budget better be a hell of a lot better than their last budget that nearly toppled the Conservative Government.

Now that Harper is no longer wavering on whether or not he thinks the economy is undergoing a crisis, this new budget is expected to not only provide measures that will ease the burden of 2009’s predicted recession but to also determine whether or not he will stay in power. If the budget is seen to not provide the necessary solutions for the citizens of Canada, will the coalition come back to life by the opposition parties voting “no” on the budget?
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On Friday January 2nd, 2008, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty hinted at more tax cuts to “stimulate” the economy. He is trying, yet again, to fool Canadians who do not understand the details of how the economy works. For example, the people who need economic relief the most are those who are very poor or who are out of a job. How will a tax cut benefit someone who doesn’t have enough money in the first place to even pay taxes? Furthermore, lower and middle income earners will only receive a couple hundred dollars at most as a result of this tax cut. Will this really stimulate the economy? I don’t think so.
When Canadians get tax cuts, the only way that it can stimulate the economy is if people choose to spend their extra money on Canadian products. However, in times like these, Canadians are more likely to use the money to pay off their own debts, or if they do choose to spend it, they will likely spend it on cheap imported products from places like China. This means that much of the savings that Flaherty thinks will go into the economy will actually never do so.
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