If you expect a federal budget in the April timeframe, you might be guessing right. There are still arguments against it but the scenario is an April budget and a May call for the election that will be held in June. Finance minister Freeland has a serious task to deliver that budget. Much hangs on it.
And the budget has to be reasonable, doable and responsible. It has to present an open and exciting era of opportunity for all Canadians. It needs to build better and ensure a stronger economy in the outcomes. It has to reflect on what she has heard from Canadians from former Bank of Canada governor and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney to the man-on-the-street.
Chrystia Freeland has to consider infrastructure needs and opportunities. She has opportunities for public-private partnerships. She can borrow at low rates and pay back in inflated dollars. She can expand upon the current Ontario plan to electrify the commuter trains bringing people into the Golden Horseshoe by launching of high-speed rail in Canada in, at least, the Quebec City and Ottawa to Windsor corridor.
She has to recognize that her budget will have to survive the sniffs of the conservatives, the venom of the new democrats, the Holier-than-thou derision of the Greens and the scatological comments of the Bloc. And she will need support from the man-on-the-street to survive the attacks.
She knows this is no ordinary budget. The continued reign of the Trudeau liberals depends on her. Her conundrum is that her continued success is tied to Trudeau. Adrift in a sea of conservative blue is no place for an aspiring new liberal leader.
And I have one final word of advice for Chrystia Freeland. I expect you will have a fairly extensive budget proposal to put before Canadians but if you, even once, use the words ‘middle-class Canadians,’ they will turn on you like wolves enjoying their dinner. Those words will label you for all time to be a political hack. You will lose credibility. Be honest with yourself and Canadians.
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Copyright 2021 © Peter Lowry
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