Flaherty sees room for budget deal

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Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he'd be happy to put opposition demands in his next budget, striking a conciliatory tone on the same day the Conservatives unveiled a suite of attack ads targeting all three rival parties.

The apparently contradictory messages are just the latest moves in the dizzying dance among the four parties in the minority Parliament leading up to the budget. Bargaining in public through the media, the parties are looking to appear election-ready in an effort to strengthen their hand heading into what is traditionally the year's most important set of policy moves by the federal government.

Whether an election will actually be called in the next few weeks depends on Mr. Flaherty's ability to secure the support of at least one opposition party for his next budget.

Fielding questions at a news conference on Monday on mortgage policy, Mr. Flaherty again ruled out any changes to planned corporate tax cuts or a return of the popular home renovation tax credit. But the Finance Minister maintains he's still open to suggestions from the opposition parties.

"I'm happy to put into the budget items that opposition parties might want," he said, noting that he's already met with the Liberal and NDP finance critics and will also meet with the Bloc Québécois. "There are areas, certainly I know the NDP has concerns - the Bloc, I expect will have concerns because they have in other years - about continuing to rebuild the forestry sector, for example."

He also suggested that retraining for older workers and employment insurance changes could provide common ground.

NDP finance critic Tom Mulcair repeated his view that his party will be hard pressed to support a budget that continues corporate tax cuts. However, if the budget includes other NDP priorities, he said, the caucus will have to weigh its options.

"Every analysis I've seen tends to point to another Conservative minority," he said. "So before spending 400 million bucks on the next election, you've got to make sure that you can explain to the public why you're spending 400 million bucks for what will in all likelihood be the same result."