Canada's Housing Bubble

Mar 03, 2010 John Ibbitson Globe and Mail

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivers a briefing prior to making his budget speech in the House of Commons in Ottawa on March 4, 2010. THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Conservative program of no new programs stakes out the ground for the next election battle, trusting that Canadians want the spending taps tightened

Budget 2010 is simply an election manifesto for Election 2010.

With a vote almost certain before this time next year, the Conservatives have presented a blueprint for a campaign in which they will sell themselves as tough, disciplined and determined to rein in federal government spending.

Canada's Finance Minister Jim Flaherty reacts to a journalist's question after buying a pair of shoes at a store in Whitby Ontario on Monday March 1, 2010 during a tradional photo op ahead of this week's federal budget.

There is nothing in the document of substance on global warming. Or early childhood education. Or the ongoing need to renew infrastructure after the stimulus money runs out this year. Or pretty much anything else.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty believe that is what you want. They believe you want them to take on the public service over future wage hikes, to slash planned spending by $17.6-billion over the next five years, and to give up on any meaningful effort to combat global warming.

Let the opposition parties fight over who is greener, let them rage at the Conservatives’ callous disregard for needed investments. They’ll split the vote, such as it is.

Of course, we really don’t know if the Conservatives mean what this budget says. The economic stimulus package from last year’s budget will continue to wash over the Canadian economy for the rest of 2010. Whether the Tories decide to keep their fiscal-restraint promises is something we’ll discover next year, by which time an election will likely have come and gone.

Canada weathered the last recession better than most other developed nations because the federal and — most of the time — provincial governments’s kept their books balanced and debt low, leaving room for decisive action when it was needed. In that respect, this budget makes sense.

But it is also politically astute. As the Liberals and NDP decry what they will call the Tories’ mean-spiritedness and short-sightedness, they will be forced to explain how they will balance the books while investing in green jobs and other initiatives.

That’s just what the Conservatives want people asking, in the election that is bound to come before the next budget rolls around.