The Conservative government is pulling out the stops to try and make a deal to pass the federal budget, organizing a last-minute meeting this afternoon with the NDP.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is releasing the budget today, and it appears the New Democrats are the only party that could possibly support the document.

The Canadian Press reports that NDP finance critic Thomas Mulcair and deputy critic Chris Charlton agreed to a meeting this afternoon with Ted Menzies, the Conservative junior finance minister.

Menzies was seen arriving for the meeting promptly at 1 p.m. An NDP source told CP that Menzies extended an invitation to Mulcair and Charlton last night to attend an "important meeting," which is being dubbed a last-ditch effort by the government to get the NDP on side with the budget.

"If the Conservatives were serious, they wouldn't have waited until the last minute to request another meeting," the NDP source said.

The opposition parties traditionally receive a budget briefing at around 1 p.m., after it has gone to journalists in lock-up but several hours before it is released to the public.

Menzies told CP he would also be meeting with both the Bloc and the Liberals. However, representatives for both parties said they have not received invitations to special briefings.

"We are not meeting with the Conservatives and we will not meet with the Conservatives today," said Bloc Quebecois spokesperson Karine Sauve.

CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Tuesday that for the first time, each of the opposition parties would be confined to their own room for the budget lockup and briefing -- meaning there will be no opportunity for the other parties to apply pressure to Layton.

So far the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois have all but pledged to vote down the fiscal blueprint, leaving it largely up to the NDP to make or break the government.

During question period in the House of Commons Tuesday, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff echoed comments he made Monday when he accused the government of being untrustworthy after a series of scandals led a House committee to a finding of contempt against the government.

"No government in the history of Canada has come this close to being found in contempt of Parliament -- and why? Because over four months they refused to tell Parliament the true cost of their choices in prisons, jets and corporate tax breaks," Ignatieff said. "Now the question becomes, with the budget a couple of hours away, how can we trust their numbers and how can we trust a budget when we can't trust the government?"

Harper responded by claiming that the government had provided "all the core information" about policy proposals being investigated by the Commons procedure and house affairs committee.

He charged that Ignatieff "is simply trying to seek reasons to manufacture a coalition among himself, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois," while the Conservatives are focusing on the economy.

Leaks suggest some new spending

On Monday, the government began to leak details about the coming budget, which suggested the Conservatives were looking to win Layton's support and avoid an election, said Fife.

According to finance department officials, the government is putting $400 million toward the home energy retrofit program, one of the key demands Layton had made of the budget.

Additionally:

  • the retrofit program will offer grants of up to $5,000 to make homes more energy efficient
  • the budget contains a boost to the Guaranteed Income Supplement of up to $600 per year for a single senior citizen, and $840 for a couple
  • the government will forgive $40,000 in student loans for doctors and $20,000 for nurses who choose to work in rural communities
  • at least two research facilities will get funding, including $50 million for the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, and $4 million for the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute

Those are all key areas for the NDP, but Fife said the olive branch being offered by the Conservatives may not be sufficient.

NDP officials told Fife that Layton considered the items to be "half measures."

"They said the only way they would win their support...would be if there was a major commitment in the budget to double the Canada Pension Plan and Conservatives say that isn't there because they can't get provincial approval," Fife told CTV's Canada AM.

"If they don't see that big move, that big commitment on the CPP it's pretty likely the NDP will vote down the government."

The NDP had also called for an end to the tax on home heating fuel, but there's no sign the government will meet that demand either.

On Monday, government sources said the budget also includes tax credits for volunteer firefighters, a $1,000 credit for small businesses to hire employees and a $500 tax credit for children's arts programs. There will also be money for worker retraining, including apprenticeships in the construction industry for veterans.

Layton has said he will read the document thoroughly, and likely sleep on it, before making up his mind.

'From stimulus to restraint'

The document may yet contain even more concessions to NDP demands. With an estimated $3 billion in extra revenues, much of it from corporate and capital gains taxes as commodity prices continue their steady climb, Flaherty has some cash for additional spending.

While Flaherty said Monday one of the main goals of this budget is to "stay on course, maintain the fiscal track that we set out in the fall update and move back to a balanced budget," he has pledged to invest in jobs and economic growth.

Aron Gampel, deputy chief economist at Scotiabank, said the government will need to "transit from stimulus to restraint" after its multi-billion-dollar Economic Action Plan helped the country stay afloat during the economic downturn.

But Gampel acknowledged the government must extend a few olive branches to the opposition if it wants to survive long enough to implement its fiscal plan.

"So maybe what the government is doing is basically re-shaping its priorities right now. And that's a politically sensitive thing to do at this particular time when you have a minority government," Gampel told CTV News Channel. "This is an economic document but it's also the political winds of (that) change force governments to make adjustments for pragmatic reasons, and I think this is the case that we're seeing now."

The budget's release on Tuesday will be followed by a debate in Commons on Wednesday.

On Friday, the Conservatives may try to push through a budget vote before the Liberals have the chance to move a non-confidence motion on a different issue -- Monday's finding that the government is in contempt of Parliament for failing to reveal spending estimates on tax cuts, prison expansions and fighter-jet procurement.

Fife said if the Conservatives are going to fall, sending the nation into an election campaign, they would like it to be over the budget, not an opposition non-confidence motion.

"Whatever the case is, Friday does look like the day the government is likely to fall, and the Prime minister will then go to government house (Rideau Hall) on Saturday, and it's wheels up," Fife said.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay, appearing on Canada AM on Tuesday to discuss Canada's role in Libya.

When asked if he's ready to hit the hustings, MacKay answered bluntly: "Signs are in the headquarters."