A Disappointed Conservative

I have voted Conservative for all of my adult life. There are few voters who are more reliably Conservative. I am deeply disappointed with the Conservative party's recent moves in Ottawa and Queen's Park.

Today the Conservatives tabled their first budget since winning a majority of the seats in the House of Commons. Many rank and file Conservatives were willing to cut Harper some slack while he was leading a minority Government. After all, how bold could he be when the opposition parties could bring him down at any time?

This budget did two noteworthy things. It raised the age for drawing the public pension to 67 from 65 and cut departmental spending by $5.2 billion.

This government deserves credit for raising the retirement age. At the time that the age of 65 was set, the average lifespan was 67 and Canada's working age population was growing rapidly. Today, the average lifespan is pushing 80 and our working age population is simply not keeping pace with the population of retirees. However this change is being phased in beginning with the year 2023...AFTER the bulk of the baby boomers have retired. While raising the retirement age is long overdue and they deserve credit for taking a step in the right direction, this is far too timid a change.

We don't know the details of the 5.2 billion dollars in spending cuts but we do know that the deficit is projected to be over $20 billion for next year. This is 20 billion dollars on top of the 23 billion dollar deficit we will run this year. In these two years alone, that amounts to $1400 per Canadian being passed on as debt to future generations. This is unacceptable.

What this budget did not do was reverse one of the Conservative government's most dubious moves. The minority Harper government of 2006 & 2008 reduced the GST from 7% to 5%. This one move alone is responsible for $11 billion of the current year's deficit according to the Globe and Mail. The Mulroney government brought in the GST and the Liberals campaigned against it. Once in office the Liberals realized that it would be irresponsible to get rid of it or even to cut the rate. Harper thought otherwise and has cut it by 2%. I had hoped that he might reverse this move once he got a majority....I sit disappointed since the debt being passed on to future generations could be much lower.

Tim Hudak is another disappointment. During the last election he came across as a lightweight and mistakes were not hard to find. Still he did manage to deny McGuinty a majority. McGuinty delivered a budget knowing that he needed at least one of the two other parties to support him to avoid triggering another election. So does Hudak use his leverage to wring some concessions from McGuinty? No of course not. He declares right away that he will oppose the budget....hence strengthening the hand of the NDP and making himself as irrelevant as if he were the Opposition leader facing a majority government. Why doesn't he realize that he could have accomplished something by playing ball with McGuinty? Why does he want a more left leaning budget which would be the result of NDP support. He just doesn't seem to get it.

Maybe I don't get it....but the Harper budget isn't materially better than a Paul Martin budget....it might even be worse. Hudak has ensured that the Ontario budget that eventually passes will reflect more NDP priorities than Conservative priorities. Each has chosen to take the easy path....also known as the wrong path.