Phendrana Drifts

A bare cupboard, along with a note saying "I took the last cookie. Sorry! - Mr. Goodale" It looks like that is what will greet the new Minister of Finance upon getting into office.

The Department of Finance gave its November 2005 update and apparently the Government of Canada ran a $3.1 billion in deficit that month, largely due to the $3.5 billion cost of the tax cuts offered in the Goodale update. And so drops the final shoe of creditability of the Martin government - fiscal hawks? Apparently not. If I were still thinking of Liberal ad parody mode I would be writing "Deficits. Of the federal government. In Canada." but that is done.

In my opinion, balancing the books and the Clarity Act are the most significant achievments of the twelve years of Liberal governance (and I am not along in this - apparently Conrad Black agrees with me, for all that is worth) but the harshness of a deficit warning kills the good will I may have harboured for the Liberals.

The choices facing the incoming Conservative government will sadly be bleak - cutting spending and possibly holding off on tax cuts in order to not have the fated headline "First Tory budget in deficit". Given the Liberal scaremongering about Tory spending promises that is the last thing Harper needs.

But more to the point, how could Hon. Ralph Goodale give the Finance committee an update that puts them in deficit spending and forget to mention that? Is that truthful or honourable?

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