Up here. On personal tax;
– Reduce the GST from 7 per cent to 6 per cent at a cost of $8.6 billion over two years.
– Create a new Canada Employment Credit worth up to $1000. This will cost $2.7 billion over two years.
– Reduce the lowest tax rate from 16 per cent to 15.5 per cent. This will cost $3 billion dollars over two years.
– The basic personal exemption, the amount you can earn tax free, will increase slightly to $8,839. This change will cost $1.58 billion over two years.
– Changes to the rules to allow for the family transfer of fishing property at cost of $120 million over two years.
Emphasis mine, because for some time now, I’ve wondered how it came to be that leaving money in the hands of those who earned it came to be redefined as a “government cost”.
Shouldn’t it be “taxpayer saving”?
From the comments, Chris caught this bit of prose fresh from the “throw a plate of rhetorical spaghetti on the floor” school of journalism;
Now, my favourite part of the CTV’s story is when they say:
“But in an unexpected turn of events, the budget also reneges on the Tories’ pledge to completely eliminate the Liberal’s planned income-tax relief.”
B*$t@rd$! Reneging on a pledge not to cancel tax cuts. What jerks.
More reaction from Stephen Taylor.
Dep’t of Finance 2006 budget page.
Eugene, here’s your source:
http://ca.news.yahoo.[space here – this is not real – delete it]com/s/
02052006/6/n-canada-conservatives-lead-separatists-poll.html
(You’ll have to get rid of the spaces and line breaks… Kate’s spam filter won’t let anything with YAHOO DOT COM through.)
My vote for crazyest reaction to the budget. I was jsut listening to CBC radio and they had a person on there complaining that more and more people were being taken off the tax rolls and this was a bad thing becasue now the transfer of wealth will be more pronounced and so the budget, by exempting more low income canadians from federal tax liability is coarsening the public because people will not see the burden as being shared equally. Hello? This was some left-wing think tank crazy person who, as far as I could tell (if she followed her argument to is logical conclusion) was arguing for a flat tax rate. I guess there is no boundary to the opportunism of the critics of the government.
This is a fairly easy construct from which to take a position, everything the government does is bad. All you need to execute such a tactic is a complete disregard for any principles, a total lack of shame and a willing audience… check, check, and check.
I am looking for the source Eugene and will post it when I find it…
Psst… I think you have one negative too many. “Reneging on a plan NOT to cancel tax cuts” would imply the raising of taxes.
Leave it to the MSM to call tax relief a “cost”.
What the hell is the problem the MSM has with tax relief for Canadians?
And the Libranos have promised to vote against it? Heh… let them. It’ll be used against them… they opposed tax relief for Canadians. They’ve lost their political savvy, but we already knew that!
And with the Conservatives now polling in first place in Quebec with 34% compared to the Librano$’ paltry 15% (Bloc is 31%), a majority is looking within reach. Hey, Librano$? Wanna have an election? Your call, chumps! No more soup for you!
Just watch the polling numbers for the Conservatives go up nationally…
I’m looking forward to this fall when program reviews come in, essentially the other half of this budget.
Then we’ll see where the spending cuts will be applied. If I were employed at the CBC, the gun registry or one of the 10,000 beurocrats who administer health care dollars I’de be more than a little nervous.
Look for Harper to transfer tax points to the provinces and therefore make a lot of PSAC positions obsolete rather than redundant.
Syncro
Chris: Thanks for posting the link – weird why we can’t post links from Yahoo.
I’ve tried to fix the yah00 problem a couple of times, with no luck.
What is really loathesome is the lefts personal attacks on PMSH.It is one thing to diagree with policies,but the venom and outright hatred and disrespect that he receives from them is disgusting.They attacked him before his gov’ts budget was even tabled.They must be coming to the conclusion that this is not a bad dream and they are very angry at the prospects of a long term conservative gov’t.It must drive them to distraction knowing that their voices no longer hold sway on official ears..
Hey Curiosity – when you said – It sure did not take much to sway Duceppe: more money for the provincial government? Count me in, he said. Even if this came at the cost of the scrapping of the daycare program designed to provide sustained spaces for children, and the deal cut in Kelowna to help the First Nations –
you forgot to put the word “liberal promised” as in “liberal promised daycare program” and “liberal promised deal cut in Kelowna” cause as you and I are well aware, the liberals were great at “promises”.
You, Bill Graham, the MSM and all the other “leftie” posters that have come out from under the bridge today just can’t admit that the CPC have actually done what they said they would do and have produced a budget that is extremely popular and will – in actuality – reduce everyone’s taxes in the long run!
So take your silly comments back under the bridge and chatter amongst your other liberal friends.
“Who will speak for Canada?”
Certainly not Bill Graham, his successor, or Jack Layton.
It’s about time the government started giving back some of our money. This budget looks balanced as it helps both the lower and middle income earners. It also fulfills a number of election promises. A politician who actually delivers on election promises! How many years has it been since we’ve seen that.
I got the $10,000 from watching the budget. My understanding is that the BPE is heading to $10,000., though I don’t know in what fiscal year.
Peter, it rises to $10,000 in 2009 and then after that it’s indexed.
Can’t wait to get me some beer and popcorn.
Bill Graham -worried about child care.
isnt he the one with the boy prostitute??
The budget sucks on defence. See this guest-post (and check the links):
“Budget on defence: Not much at all”
http://www.damianpenny.com/archived/006396.html
Mark
Ottawa
Just curious about something, Kate.
Today literally tens of thousands of words of MSM copy were produced about the budget today, and they appeared in hundreds of news stories and broadcast pieces, and they were produced by dozens of news organizations.
The entirety of your budget commentary consists of a rant about a small handful of the worst-written sentences to emerge from that budget lockup.
Seriously, I’m starting to get the impression you actually live for this.
But this glass-is-three-per-cent-empty-and-it’s-all-the-media’s-fault attitude of yours tends to miss 97 per cent of the story and makes a scapegoat of the wrong target.
Just curious about something, Kate.
Today literally tens of thousands of words of MSM copy were produced about the budget, and they appeared in hundreds of news stories and broadcast pieces, and they were produced by dozens of news organizations.
The entirety of your budget commentary consists of a rant about a small handful of the worst-written sentences to emerge from that budget lockup.
Seriously, I’m starting to get the impression you actually live for this.
But this glass-is-three-per-cent-empty-and-it’s-all-the-media’s-fault attitude of yours tends to miss 97 per cent of the story and usually makes a scapegoat of the wrong target.
As I’m typing this I am also watching Mike Fluffy and his panel and to listen to the opposition is incredeble. The Lieberal Stratagist just said that in the last election the Conservatives didn’t win, it was just that the Liberals were thrown out. Talk about arrogance. The opposition stratagists also say that this is a “conservative budget”. Well, duh!
tony wrote:
“The entirety of your budget commentary consists of a rant about a small handful of the worst-written sentences to emerge from that budget lockup.”
It’s not a bug. It’s a feature!
Seriously though. If you check the posting time, you’ll discover that I simply linked to the first media report I could find that covered the basics in a simple format. It was only during writing the post that the word “cost” began to catch my attention. It’s a long standing and irritating practice by politicians and media alike, and it’s worth pointing out.
Now, that said, I don’t tend to lengthy analysis at the worst of times. I tend to save (and link to it) that for others more qualified.
And unlike big media, I try not to get on the “got to be first” bandwagon. Really – how seriously are we to take journalists who drag out the nearest pundit available to comment on a budget speech that isn’t even finished?
In fact – in your comment you mention something about the “glass being 3% empty” – have you not noticed I didn’t venture an opinion at all on the budget?
Vitruvius – yes, I fully agree. It has a focus on decentralization. But remember, Harper is a strong supporter of decentralization.
The Liberals and NDP, with the statism and social engineering attitude towards the ‘beer and popcorn’ peasants – are all about centralization, high taxation, little independence of thought and action by the citizens etc. Harper is promoting decentralization and local gov’t – where the local population looks after its local needs – rather than going through umpteen levels of centralist bureaucracy (costly bureaucracy).
So- a great budget – and – a great PM Harper.
Incredible, however, to watch The Jaw (Graham) and the Moustache (Layton) politik about how upset they are…Jack..with the useless Kyoto; and Graham with…?… And, asserting their opposition to the budget ONLY because they know that the Bloc will support it. Hah. Some opposition.
Totally absent from the debate is the budget promise to decrease taxes owing by small breweries. Between that and the GST cut, you would think that this should make the Liberals happy, as it will result in lower prices for beer and popcorn.
I’ve just watched TV Ontario’s (TVO) inferior coverage of the budget. Two thirds of the three-person panel was anti-Conservative. If one adds in the moderator, that would translate to three quarters of the commentators being anti-Conservative. (Good news: Armine, an unattractive–sorry!–harridan, speaking for the pro-statist daycare lobbyists, was so self-referential, aggressive, ill mannered, and ill informed–frown and waving arms–that she was a fine icon for the moron left.)
TVO–a mini-CBC–is becoming a clone. I used to respect Studio 2, TVO’s daily political forum: not any more. Its propaganda for the L/liberal cause is altogether out of the closet, day in and day out. What a shame: for a government run outfit, Studio 2 used to be a refreshingly balanced–most of the time–source of political commentary. (Hmm . . . maybe that’s when the Conservatives were in power. I’d guess that the present Liberal government would be quite approving of their anti-C/conservative spin.)
The federal Conservatives are doing what they said they’d do–Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe (on the panel) seemed SHOCKED that they’d actually manage the budget numbers to fit their own agenda. I say, go for it, Conservatives!
And another thing:
The scrapping of the Kelowna Accord – This was a Liberal promise to provide $5 Billion. The CPC didn’t scrap $5 Billion from this budget, though. The deal that the Lib’s worked out was for TEN YEARS not one. If you check the math, you’ll see that the CPC offered $450 Million for this year, that’s almost the one-tenth that the Lib’s were promising for this year. If the Libs were in power, it would cost the extra $50 million to line their buddy’s pockets in the distribution chain, so I don’t really see how there’s any loss to the Native community in this budget.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada is where I believe where the real battle will be fought. They are of course against any cuts what so ever to social programs.
A aurgument that I have been formulating for some time is that the government is really run for and by these anonymous faceless middleclass leaches.
Although no large institution can run for long without some kind of bureaucracy they are a aid to
the paper work that any institution produces for records.
Canada has had a remarkably quiet federal bureaucracy for years.
Well in the last few days to quote the federal Union they are girding for battle. How dare the elected politicians even consider cutting program spending that will undoubtedly level off if not reduce federal government employment. Programs that I have aurgued are for the benefit of the middleclass bureacracy and not the end user (reciever). It has always amased me that it costs $50 per check for the feds to issue a check.
So far I am not particularly impressed with this budget. For a man like our Prime Minister this is basically a lay down. If he couldn’t get this done under the current climate then he would be a mistake any way.
The real battle here will be can he rein in and ultimately control PSAC
What’s her face on the CBC phone in show at 6 was lamenting that Harper would have to find 1 billion per year in cuts to make his numbers add up. I must have hit redial a hundred times trying to get through so I could suggest chopping 1 billion out of the CBC’s funding. Damn! Other than that though, it was a great.
Hey Kate,
You’re good. I enjoy sparring with you — even if it means I wind up with a shiner once in awhile, or with a post blasting me and my entire profession.
But I love the lively back and forth on this site. It would be great if everyone cared about about public affairs and government as much as the folks posting and commenting here — and defended their point of view as vigorously as you do.
That being said, re: the three-per-cent thing. I just meant there HAD to be something more pertinent to tackle than the choice of words of the Canwest bulletin-writer and one sentence from the CTV web copy.
It will be interesting, Jeff, to see what role Kevin Lynch, new Clerk of the Privy Council Office, plays in the eventual battle with PSAC. With Himmelfarb gone, the split over fiscal re-balancing may be more inter-union than union-government.
Privatizatio of the CBC = Savings $1Billion +
Can’t happen soon enough.OMMAG
Vitruvius: So what you are saying is the provicial unions may get into the fray and ostensably be a asset to PM Harper.
Yes.
lookout – yes, I agree with you on TVO. I used to enjoy watching it – but – not much. And yes, that harridan – with the self-assumed, self-defined moral superiority (ahh, such a typical Liberal/NDP)…with her rejection of the budget because it isn’t a socialist centralist welfare state budget.
All that’s left, of TVO – is Gilles Paquet on Thursdays. Now, there’s a man with brains and class. How does he put up with Susan Riley’s silly comments???
Gilles pacquet is a real standout on that show. I used to watch regularly, but rarely now. At least susan murray isn’t on anymore.
There awash in energy bucks.Nice to see that they left Alberta alone this time.Thank god Kelowna is dead in the water.
kursk,
The personal attacks and hyperbole will be Harper’s best friend come the next election.
Many voted Librano last time around because Big Paulie and the MSM told them that Harper is a baby-eating Nazi who is bent on breaking up Canada.
These people set the bar so low for Harper that it’s impossible for him not to surpass expectations. By continuing to portray Harper as “extreme” and out of the mainstream, the Liberals will only further marginalize themselves in the eyes of Canadians.
With every passing day, the light bulbs are going off in Canadians’ heads as they realize that they were lied to by Martin and the MSM. That stunt won’t work again.
The poll numbers demonstrate that people are taking another look for themselves now that the guy’s in power…. and they like what they see.
They are starting to see that Martin’s slanders were akin to Bernardo bad-mouthing the prosecutor. And the MSM’s record isn’t much better.
Harper’s ‘fight’ with the liberal media shows backbone. No one respects a person who kisses his enemy’s ass. Harper isn’t, and the only people who are upset about it are the scribes. Poor babies.
The Liberals should force an election at the earliest opportunity, because if Harper gets a full year in power, the Libranos will be decimated. But they’re broke and no longer have unrestricted access to the federal bank to pay for their election bills… so they will be reduced to pretending they want an election.
ET and blues rune, we’re all Gilles Paquet fans. What a guy, eh? Altogether worth the price of admission to TVO’s Studio 2. (But if he weren’t Francophone . . . ) How he keeps himself from gagging on the assinine drivel of Susan Riley fills me with–more–admiration.
All of us who support the Conservatives need to let them–and their MSM opponents–know it.
Gilles Paquet, if not God, is close–at least for a Canadian.
Mark
Ottawa
Tony writes:
“That being said, re: the three-per-cent thing. I just meant there HAD to be something more pertinent to tackle than the choice of words of the Canwest bulletin-writer and one sentence from the CTV web copy.”
Yes, you’re right about that!
While everyone was dissecting the budget speech, I went out to the golf course to take measurements to replace some existing signage, came home to design a new layout on the computer, talked to my suppliers re: materials cost estimates, so that I have a quote ready for a meeting on Wednesday night.
Dan Cook at the G&M is reporting that budgeted spending in 2006 will be up 5.3% to $189-billion, 2007 up 4.1% to $196-billion, while Liberal increases were 8% per year averaged over five-years.
Lots of the opposition are claiming the tax cuts as increased spending. Sigh.
The National Post reported a savings of $1,400 per year for the average family, but I’ve lost the link.
PGP… Privatize the dept. of agriculture and save $6 billion a yr.
It occurs to me that the “scary” label for Mr. Harper is pretty much no longer operative, eh what?
“$15 million for the DNA databank”
I would like to donate some of my DNA. Do they pay by the strand?
I’m waiting for reaction to Dr. Bennet’s comments on Duffy…she said it is a good thing there is more money for prisons because more kids will end up in jail, since there is nothing in this budget of funding Early Chilhood Education.Even duffy said it was a fairly harsh statement…typical Lib insult to parents.
Ripple effects are now being felt. After announcing the budget, TypePad and LiveJournal crashed. About half the Canadians blogs are down. Good thing I sold long on tin-foil 😉
Blue Blogging Soapbox makes an excellent argument at http://tinyurl.com/e5ghm to the effect that this budget provides the same rate of spending on Indian issues, now, that the Liberals only promised to plan for.
I’m turning into one of Pavlov’s dogs.
Liberal/NDP says “good” means I get whipped. Liberal/NDP says “bad” means I get a biscuit.
Watched the interview on CBC National with Peter and Jim (FM), it was interesting at least with the different people asking questions of the Minister.
A few stood out but one that stuck in my craw was the woman and her husband in Vancouver. Both admitted to well paying jobs there (she’s a real estate agent!), their home was FANTASTIC but all she could bitch about was that she pays $800 per month in childcare for her five year old daughter, that the child care allowance won’t pay for that. Well boo-hoo-hoo, cry me a river lady! As if Canadians should be expected to pay for her entire childcare bill, especially when she can obviously afford it.
Under the liberal plan she would have played the lottery and maybe got one of the coveted spots or likely nothing at all and complained even more. If people find their children to be such a burden then perhaps they should refrain from having them in the first place. I found mine to be a blessing no matter what the sacrifice and didn’t bitch for someone else to pay for them.
I found it amusing that Jim Flaherty incorrectly addressed Peter Mansbridge as Lloyd, wonder how much that irked him? 😉
All I can say on the child care front is that my wife stayed home to raise our two children and we survived on my income. We were living in Halifax and had no relatives east of Lake Superior. Suck it up and make do.
There are good things in this budget that will make small changes which will add up in the end for savings to the taxpayer. Great was Dippers and Lier’s were complaining away and the Bloc had already said that they would support it. So… go back to your corner!!! Kelowna deal dead! good news. Best of the day was B*$t@rd$! I am going to add that one to my spell check, gotta love it Kate!
And now, if you’ll excuse me funnin’ around Kate, this is the 100th post in this thread, to honour the end of the first 100 days of the Harper government. Goodnight everyone.