Don Martin's sorry-to-be-cynical prediction on the federal budget
Don Martin's sorry-to-be-cynical prediction on the federal budget
Hanging out on Vancouver Island is mercifully as far away from Ottawa as a Canadian can get.
It’s the perfect place for a reality check during a budget week when the national capital region is frenzy-filled with breathless speculation, strategic pre-budget leaks and former insider prognostications that are wrong 50 per cent of the time.
Here, amid the sprouting of daffodils under blossom-filled trees, the budget isn’t merely forgotten upon release, it barely registers in the first place.
Heck, I was cruising on a friend’s boat just offshore from actor Pamela Anderson’s massive how’d-she-ever-get-that-approved dock in Ladysmith on Tuesday when it dawned on me the budget was already released and in full analytical swing, thus forcing a delay in writing this column until today.
That gave me a chance to read the day-after reviews on Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s latest shot at a legacy for her eventual Liberal leadership bid, delivered in a mercifully short speech to a chorus of nodding heads from Liberal potted plants in the background.
And what she got was a judgment jumble of mild praise, sharp derision and plenty of “meh” from the pundits on her 270-page fiscal doorstopper.
PRODUCTIVITY KILLER, CLIMATE GAME-CHANGER
Her budget is being panned as a productivity killer, praised as a climate game-changer, condemned as a fiscally reckless retreat from prudence and given a thumbs-up for deficit-taming spending cuts and a government services repair job.
But it’s hard to pin down exactly what it is because the budget vision, if any, is wrapped inside moves to re-introduce previously announced moves or expand already implemented programs while kicking the difficult spending-cuts stuff far beyond the expected lifetime of this Liberal government.
If the right industries buy into it, it would seem the budget could redefine Canada as a leader in a green-growth world. If they don’t, it might see our productivity and innovation levels fall further into the basement of developed economies.
MY CYNICAL PREDICTION
So here’s my sorry-to-be-cynical prediction. The only thing most Canadians will remember about the budget this time next week is how the booze tax increase was reduced to two per cent from six.
And being remembered for reducing a planned excise tax increase is a mighty sad legacy if Freeland’s resume is being polished for higher ambition.
The political bottom line to all this is that the NDP will support it, thus sparing the Trudeau government another call for help from Chinese interference to win over barely impressed voters.
It won’t fatally wound a Liberal brand built on deficit spending and social program expansions, which now stretch from daycares to the dentist.
And while it will hand the Conservatives some decent targets for legitimate angst, particularly over the deficit spending balloon, there’s not enough high-calibre ammunition for even the best Opposition gunners to bullseye the cabinet front bench.
So now starts another break from Parliament with the prime minister and his tagalongs fanning out across the country to remind Canadians how great they art and why this budget should cement their voting intentions to the Liberal spot on the ballot.
That could be the real challenge. As pollster Eric Grenier noted recently, the government’s own internal polling shows half of Canadians never heard or heeded a word about the 2022 budget after it was released and almost 60 per cent couldn’t name any specific measures in any recent budget.
By the time you read this, this eminently forgettable budget could largely be a flickering memory, disappearing into thin air and taking with it long-range spending and revenue spreadsheets that have all the lasting impact of pixie dust.
After all, here on Vancouver Island, the surf is pounding in Tofino, the spring flowers are in bloom everywhere and the hummingbirds are flocking to feeders.
With spring fever taking root, contemplating a federal budget would only dampen the mood.
A New Democrat MP is trying to convince his colleagues to change the rules that govern the House of Commons in a series of ways he says would instill 'democratic controls' on the prime minister's 'unfettered' powers.
Monday morning, the Public Service Alliance of Canada announced it had reached a 'tentative' agreement with the federal government for the 120,000 picketing Treasury Board workers who, since April 19, had been engaged in one of the largest strikes in Canadian history. Here's a rundown of the developments from Parliament Hill as they happened.
The House committee studying foreign election interference heard from top 2019 and 2021 Liberal and Conservative campaign directors on Tuesday, with party officials from both camps speaking about the need for politicians to come together to address any "legislative gaps" ahead of the next vote.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
U.S President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have announced updates on a number of cross-border issues, after a day of meetings on Parliament Hill.
Danielle Smith's win in the Alberta election hands her the most starkly divided province confronting any premier in Canada, writes commentator Don Martin.
Special rapporteur David Johnston didn't recommend public inquiry knowing it was a pathetically insufficient response for a foreign democratic assault of this magnitude, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
To frame a few new illustrations on pages tucked inside a passport as proof of a Liberal plot to purge the Canadian historical record seems like a severe stretch, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino is a bright former federal prosecutor, who was destined to be a star in Justin Trudeau's cabinet. But in an opinion column on CTVNews.ca, Don Martin argues Mendicino has taken a stunning fall from grace, stumbling badly on important issues just 18 months into the job.
It's the most peculiar of elections with the frontrunner and her main opponent being the same person, writes columnist Don Martin. 'In the looming Alberta showdown, it's Premier Danielle Smith versus her mouth.'
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Pierre Poilievre is off to Manitoba to rally Conservative supporters ahead of a byelection that Maxime Bernier is hoping will send him back to Parliament. The far-right People's Party of Canada leader lost his Quebec seat in the 2019 federal vote and lost again in the 2021 election.
The highlight of Game 1 for Jamal Murray came when he dribbled into the middle, planted his surgically repaired left knee in the paint, made a full clockwise turn, then faded away and swished a mid-range jumper.
Ukrainian air defences shot down more than 30 Russian cruise missiles and drones in Moscow's sixth air attack in six days on Kyiv, local officials said Friday. The Ukrainian capital was simultaneously attacked from different directions by Iranian-made Shahed drones and cruise missiles from the Caspian region.
U.S. President Joe Biden quipped that he got 'sandbagged' Thursday after he tripped and fell -- but was uninjured -- while onstage at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation.
Gatineau police say officers responded to a call from staff at l’école l'Oiseau Bleu on Nelligan Street just after 10 a.m. Friday about a camera found in the washroom.
Jordan's crown prince married the scion of a prominent Saudi family on Thursday in a palace ceremony attended by royals and other VIPs from around the world, as massive crowds gathered across the kingdom to celebrate the region's newest power couple.
More Canadians have inflammatory bowel disease, Meta prepares to block news for some Canadians on Facebook and Instagram, and there's a fight for conservative voters in Manitoba.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is welcoming Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to Canada Friday as the federal Liberals keep quiet about a democratic backslide in his country.
The elevated walkway in Winnipeg's Fort Gibraltar that collapsed during a school field trip, sending 16 children and one adult to hospital, was last repaired a decade ago.
Accessible Community Counselling and Employment Services, a charity that supports internationally trained engineers like Zaitsev, said the dropping of the Canadian experience requirement is a welcome development.
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson formally apologized in the legislature Thursday to former residents of the Manitoba Developmental Centre, one of the country's last large institutional facilities for people with intellectual disabilities.
Gatineau police say officers responded to a call from staff at l’école l'Oiseau Bleu on Nelligan Street just after 10 a.m. Friday about a camera found in the washroom.
The family of an engaged couple who were shot dead following a dispute with their landlord in Stoney Creek over the weekend released a statement of their loved ones, remembering them as 'two beautiful souls.'
Clashes between police and supporters of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko left nine people dead, the government said Friday, with authorities issuing a blanket ban on the use of several social media platforms in the aftermath of the violence.
The Biden administration is retaliating for Russia's suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, announcing Thursday it is revoking the visas of Russian nuclear inspectors, denying pending applications for new monitors and cancelling standard clearances for Russian aircraft to enter U.S. airspace.
The White House announced Thursday that it will levy sanctions against key defense companies and people "perpetuating the violence" in Sudan as warring sides fail to abide by a ceasefire agreement.
Jordan's crown prince married the scion of a prominent Saudi family on Thursday in a palace ceremony attended by royals and other VIPs from around the world, as massive crowds gathered across the kingdom to celebrate the region's newest power couple.
Polish President Andrzej Duda unexpectedly said Friday that he was proposing urgent amendments to a contentious law on Russian influences that he signed this week and that drew U.S. and European Union criticism.
At the height of the Islamic State group's rampage across Syria, the world watched in horror as the militants blew up an iconic arch and temple in the country's famed Roman ruins in Palmyra.
Pierre Poilievre is off to Manitoba to rally Conservative supporters ahead of a byelection that Maxime Bernier is hoping will send him back to Parliament. The far-right People's Party of Canada leader lost his Quebec seat in the 2019 federal vote and lost again in the 2021 election.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is welcoming Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to Canada Friday as the federal Liberals keep quiet about a democratic backslide in his country.
Bill Blair is blaming Canadian Security Intelligence Service director David Vigneault for the fact he didn't receive a memo warning about the alleged targeting of Conservative MP Michael Chong and his family by a Chinese diplomat.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Despite the 'munchies' being a common cannabis effect, frequent users are leaner and less likely to develop diabetes than people who don't use the drug. According to a new study, cannabis use in teenage years may alter how the body's fat cells work.
Racial bias built into a common medical test for lung function is likely leading to fewer Black patients getting care for breathing problems, a study published Thursday suggests.
Deep in an open coal mine in southern Greece, researchers have discovered the antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans' hominin ancestors. The find announced Thursday would drag the dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. The oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.
Actor Armie Hammer will not be charged after a long investigation of a woman's allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2017, Los Angeles prosecutors said.
Global stock markets and Wall Street futures rose Friday ahead of a U.S. jobs market update after Federal Reserve officials reignited hopes that another interest rate hike might be postponed.
Suncor Energy Inc. will cut 1,500 jobs by the end of the year, as new CEO Rich Kruger forges ahead with his mandate to reduce costs and improve the company's lagging financial performance.
Ontario has committed to paying a third of the cost to save a $5-billion electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont., premier Doug Ford said Thursday.
More than three years after COVID was declared a global pandemic, a new study is looking at how the international health crisis has changed the lifestyle habits of Canadians.
Now a New York company that makes carbon-negative aviation fuel is taking the menu for interplanetary cuisine in a very different direction. Its innovation has put it in the finals of a NASA-sponsored contest to encourage development of next-generation technologies for meeting the food needs of astronauts.
So, what exactly was that metal-looking object about the size of a bottle cap that was taped to Novak Djokovic's chest at the French Open? The player said it is an incredibly efficient nanotechnology to help him deliver my best on the court, "that's the biggest secret of my career," he said sarcastically.
Nikola Jokic got a triple-double in his NBA Finals debut, Canada’s Jamal Murray scored 26 points and the Denver Nuggets had little trouble with the cold-shooting Miami Heat on the way to a 104-93 win in Game 1 on Thursday night.
