Fiscal Conservatives

One day's worth of press releases from Conservative HQ...

Ottawa- Paul Martin and the Liberal Party have abandoned the people of Atlantic Canada for the last time according to Peter MacKay, MP for Central Nova and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. “Today the Liberal Party once again rejected the request from the Conservative Party, supported by all opposition parties, to split the budget bill and remove the Atlantic accord. To do so would allow the money to flow as promised to those provinces much more quickly than if they remained attached to the budget bill,” said MacKay.

The Conservative Party,” Mr. Jaffer continued, “is not only committed to a ‘Real Deal’ with municipalities where we will honour all agreements signed with provinces prior to an election; we are ready to make further investments in infrastructure as previously indicated by Stephen Harper. Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper stated in an open letter to Canadian municipal leaders on May 6, 2005 that “there is no risk whatsoever to promised infrastructure funding under a Conservative government... I have already made clear and unequivocal commitments to honour all federal-provincial-municipal agreements reached on infrastructure in any future budget… Any similar agreements reached with other provinces or territories will be similarly respected. All funding promised in the March 2005 budget will be delivered. Furthermore, let me confirm that any future Conservative government will match or exceed the current Liberal plan to transfer $5 billion over 5 years from the gas tax to support infrastructure...

The Conservative Party’s Quebec spokesperson, Josée Verner, is delighted by the result of Tuesday’s vote in the House of Commons on Bill C‑9, An Act to establish the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec. The bill, designed to help promote the economic development of Quebec’s regions, protects the Agency against any partisan political intervention. “We are in favour of regional development. Beyond the organizational aspect, however, the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec should be neutral and free from political intervention in order to put forward projects that truly meet the needs of Quebec and its regions,” said Ms. Verner.

To sum up: the Conservatives are in favour of the Liberal Atlantic accord, only they'd do it quicker; they are in favour of Liberal agreements to share the gas tax with city governments, only they'd spend more; they are in favour of Liberal regional development policies, only they'd be less political about it. That's the difference between the two parties on spending these days. Oh and did I mention Bombardier?