Throughout the fall of 2010, the NDP’s 37 seats were key as they alone cast deciding votes that kept the minority Conservative government afloat while the Liberals carried out their failed, pro-election strategy.
Now that Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is toning down the campaign talk, there will be less pressure on New Democrats heading into the March 4 budget.
Nonetheless, the math hasn’t changed for the Conservatives: They need at least one party to abstain or vote with them to stay alive through budget confidence votes.
Today, NDP finance critic Thomas Mulcair unveiled his party’s wish list through a public letter to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. The list reveals some items the Conservatives could conceivably accept and others that would be a challenge.
The Conservatives put Canada’s corporate tax rate on a downward trend that began at 22.12 per cent in 2007 and is scheduled to drop to 16.5 per cent next year and 15 per cent in 2012.
The NDP says those final two cuts should be shelved. Given Mr. Flaherty’s personal campaign in favour of the cuts, he’s not likely to be keen on this one.
The minister might look more favourably, however, on the NDP’s call for “an enhanced” Canada Pension Plan. Mr. Flaherty is already in talks with the provinces on pension reform and has not ruled out enriching the CPP system.
The Tories and New Democrats have managed to find common cause over the past year on Employment Insurance changes and the NDP is calling for the recessionary EI measures to continue. The now-defunct home renovation tax credit should also be revived, according to the NDP.
The March 4 budget is expected to provide a timeline for erasing the deficit. The NDP letter is mum on when the books should be balanced, instead proposing a goal of deficit-to-GDP ratio of 1 per cent per year and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 30 per cent by 2015.
The government projects that ratio will peak at 35.5 per cent next year.
The NDP is also calling on the government to put some domestic money behind its plan to make women and children a priority for this year’s G8 meetings. They want $700-million toward the Guaranteed Income Supplement.
“In accordance with our call to make the next session one in which Canada’s Parliament puts women and children first, as well as the Prime Minister’s stated intention to address maternal and child health at the upcoming summit of the G8 countries, we propose that you use Budget 2010 to invest in Canadian women and children,” Mr. Mulcair writes.
