February 23, 2005
Budget 2005: Government will survive
A "happier than expected" Stephen Harper said his Conservative Opposition will not force an election over the 2005 budget tabled this afternoon by Finance Minister Ralph Goodale.
"We're not going to cause an unnecessary election at this point," Mr. Harper said.
On the other hand, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québecois Leader were decidedly unhappy with what they saw.
"We were expecting a minority government budget that would respond to the progressive agenda (Prime Minister Paul) Martin tried to lay before Canadians in the last election," Mr. told CTV News. "Now what we see is a budget that doesn't invest in education, that doesn't invest in climate change the way it should ... and instead we see a corporate tax cut which came out of the blue."
Gilles Duceppe called the budget "completely unacceptable for Québec," and would not rule out attempting to topple Prime Minister's Paul Martin's minority Liberal government.
The Liberals need the support of the Conservatives or both the NDP and the Bloc in order to win a House of Commons vote on the Budget. Budgets are considered matters of confidence in Parliament and a defeat for the government would mean a new election. However, with the apparent support of the Opposition Tories it appears the Martin government is safe - for now.
Posted by maxthecat at February 23, 2005 05:55 PM
http://www.maxsmewsings.com/mt/archives/2005/02/budget_2005_government_will_survive.php