Budget Day

Unless you want to go the route of feigned surprise (either in the form of outrage or delight), there's not a lot to say about a budget like this which was oh so predictable. Even though we didn't get any major leaks (aside from the fictional ones on Garth Turner's blog), the entire election campaign was about this budget so it's hard to be genuinely surprised about anything (gasp! tax cuts!).

A lot of commentators are calling it a pre-election budget but it's very much a post-election budget. The Tories absolutely needed to follow through on their election promises since next election they'll be running on their record, rather than against Adscam or the "time for a change" wave of momentum. If Harper can develop a reputation as someone who follows through on his promises, he'll be unbeatable in the next election campaign. In that respect, he did a good job following through on a lot of his major promises today. And the targeted tax breaks for things like textbooks and transit are certainly aimed at winning seats in the cities where the Tories are still weak (pretty much all cities besides Calgary and Edmonton).

The most interesting thing to come out of the day is the promise for a meeting with the Premiers in the fall to deal with the "fiscal imbalance". That meeting could very well prove to be the make it or break it event of this minority government's life which will decide how long the government survives and how Harper does comes next election.