There has been much talk about why, how, or IF Mr. Ignatieff's Liberals will "pass" Harper's budget on Jan. 27th. Mr. Ignatieff has spoken of the 3 key conditions required "at a minimum" ("Will it protect the most vulnerable? Will it save jobs? And most important of all, will it create the jobs of tomorrow?").
I think we need to add ONE MORE condition that be mandatory. IF the Harper budget is "acceptable" and it contains workable elements of each of the top 3 conditions, and we provide ascent, THEN Mr. Harper should acknowledge that these were ideas the Liberals insisted were part of the budget.
If this is to be a budget prepared with input from the Opposition, then Her Majesty's Opposition should get credit for the parts "for the people". This should be a mandatory condition, and Mr. Ignatieff should request it of the PM via the media. There are all sorts of concerns about the Conservatives "stealing" liberal ideas and playing them as their own. There are also good reasons why Mr. Harper would not want to take credit for some spending measures (doesn't want to upset his "base", etc.)...
IF a budget has our input, or concern for the ideas and needs of some 60% of Canadians, THEN the opposition should get some credit for those particular parts of the budget... This idea may be novel, but novel ideas are the offspring of intelligent discourse - and we are all about the politics of intelligence.
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