OTTAWA (CP) - The minority Conservative government has won approval in principle for its first budget in the House of Commons, with a helping hand from the separatist Bloc Quebecois.
In a key confidence test Wednesday, the budget passed handily by a vote of 175 to 113.
The Bloc support, announced before Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had even finished reading his budget speech last week, was more than enough to outweigh opposition from the Liberals and NDP.
But the vote - to "approve in general the budgetary policy of the government" - isn't necessarily the end of the fiscal battle. The Commons has yet to consider enabling legislation, tabled Tuesday, that spells out the plans in greater detail.
How long Prime Minister Stephen Harper can count on continued backing from Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe is uncertain.
Duceppe has served notice that the only reason he's supporting the budget is a Harper promise to address the so-called fiscal imbalance by working out a new deal over the next year to transfer more federal cash to the provinces.
The Liberals say it's a vain hope.
"The cupboard is empty as far as the fiscal imbalance is concerned," Grit finance critic John McCallum insisted this week.
"Quebecers will come to realize that the Bloc has betrayed their interests."
Recent opinion polls have put the Tories neck and neck with the Bloc in Quebec - a fact that federalists point to in explaining Duceppe's reluctance to topple the Harper government and force another election just five months after the last one.
The Bloc leader fired back this week, noting that the Liberals, currently embroiled in a party leadership race, have just as little interest in a snap election.
"The Liberals are very happy that we'll support the Tories," said Duceppe. "I know that."
Judy Wasylycia-Leis, the NDP finance critic, says her party will study the possibility of offering amendments to the enabling bill, which could take months to pass.
Beyond that, the NDP plans to step up the fight over the budget's controversial child-care provisions, which would see the Tories cancel payments to the provinces to create daycare spaces and instead pay a taxable $1,200 baby bonus directly to parents for each child under age six.
The Tories say parents should be free to make their own choices on how to spend the cash. Critics say the plan favours well-off, stay-at-home mothers over those who work outside the home.
The New Democrats intend to introduce legislation that would set out national standards for daycare and establish a fiscal framework for federal support, much in the way the Canada Health does for medicare.
The opposition can't actually force the Tories to spend money, Wasylycia-Leis acknowledged. But bringing in the bill could put "enormous pressure"on the government to change course.
The Liberals, too, are considering amendments to the budget enabling legislation, although they could come in the Senate, where Grits outnumber Tories by a wide margin.
Liberal Senator Jack Austin has also introduced a private member's bill in the upper house that would restore key income tax cuts implemented by the Paul Martin government.
The Liberals, in their last budget, lowered the tax rate to 15 per cent on the first $30,000 earned. The Tories raised it to 15.5 per cent, but balanced that with a one-percentage-point reduction in the GST.
If Austin can get his bill through the Senate, and send it on to the Commons, the effect would be to give MPs a choice between competing tax plans.
First, however, the Grits must overcome procedural objections in the upper house.
Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella, a Conservative, has yet to rule on whether the bill is in order.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n051059A.xml
I don't give the Conservatives too long. The longest they lasted as a minority was 6 months and Harper can't break that he is too stupid too.
In a key confidence test Wednesday, the budget passed handily by a vote of 175 to 113.
The Bloc support, announced before Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had even finished reading his budget speech last week, was more than enough to outweigh opposition from the Liberals and NDP.
But the vote - to "approve in general the budgetary policy of the government" - isn't necessarily the end of the fiscal battle. The Commons has yet to consider enabling legislation, tabled Tuesday, that spells out the plans in greater detail.
How long Prime Minister Stephen Harper can count on continued backing from Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe is uncertain.
Duceppe has served notice that the only reason he's supporting the budget is a Harper promise to address the so-called fiscal imbalance by working out a new deal over the next year to transfer more federal cash to the provinces.
The Liberals say it's a vain hope.
"The cupboard is empty as far as the fiscal imbalance is concerned," Grit finance critic John McCallum insisted this week.
"Quebecers will come to realize that the Bloc has betrayed their interests."
Recent opinion polls have put the Tories neck and neck with the Bloc in Quebec - a fact that federalists point to in explaining Duceppe's reluctance to topple the Harper government and force another election just five months after the last one.
The Bloc leader fired back this week, noting that the Liberals, currently embroiled in a party leadership race, have just as little interest in a snap election.
"The Liberals are very happy that we'll support the Tories," said Duceppe. "I know that."
Judy Wasylycia-Leis, the NDP finance critic, says her party will study the possibility of offering amendments to the enabling bill, which could take months to pass.
Beyond that, the NDP plans to step up the fight over the budget's controversial child-care provisions, which would see the Tories cancel payments to the provinces to create daycare spaces and instead pay a taxable $1,200 baby bonus directly to parents for each child under age six.
The Tories say parents should be free to make their own choices on how to spend the cash. Critics say the plan favours well-off, stay-at-home mothers over those who work outside the home.
The New Democrats intend to introduce legislation that would set out national standards for daycare and establish a fiscal framework for federal support, much in the way the Canada Health does for medicare.
The opposition can't actually force the Tories to spend money, Wasylycia-Leis acknowledged. But bringing in the bill could put "enormous pressure"on the government to change course.
The Liberals, too, are considering amendments to the budget enabling legislation, although they could come in the Senate, where Grits outnumber Tories by a wide margin.
Liberal Senator Jack Austin has also introduced a private member's bill in the upper house that would restore key income tax cuts implemented by the Paul Martin government.
The Liberals, in their last budget, lowered the tax rate to 15 per cent on the first $30,000 earned. The Tories raised it to 15.5 per cent, but balanced that with a one-percentage-point reduction in the GST.
If Austin can get his bill through the Senate, and send it on to the Commons, the effect would be to give MPs a choice between competing tax plans.
First, however, the Grits must overcome procedural objections in the upper house.
Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella, a Conservative, has yet to rule on whether the bill is in order.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n051059A.xml
I don't give the Conservatives too long. The longest they lasted as a minority was 6 months and Harper can't break that he is too stupid too.
