Finance Minister Jim Flaherty introduced yesterday the first budget since the Conservatives won their coveted majority. The budget aims to cut $5.2 billion over 3 years by cutting an average of 7% per program and will phase out over 19,000 civil service jobs. It is worth noting that in the first 2 years of their first mandate back in 2006, the Conservatives increased program spending by over 40% and this budget is a far cry from restoring Canada to a prudent economic state.

The Harper government has labeled and attacked opponents of the XL Keystone pipeline project on the premise that they received funding from American environmental groups. It turns out that the Harper government has also been getting foreign funding.

While skeptics fought a reasoned fight against some of the Liberal Party’s new constitutional amendments, the party voted with sufficient numbers to pass some of former President Alfred App’s controversial departure gifts. In doing so, they also took a stab at new policy conventions and voted for a “Bold New Red.”

Canadians pay a lot of money every year. They pay a GST and PST or HST, they pay income taxes, they pay payroll taxes, they pay municipal property taxes and there is a tax for almost everything in Canada. These taxes overlap and soon we all find ourselves struggling to balance our budgets and wondering why money disappears so fast. Meanwhile, government officials tell us that they are doing their best to manage budgets which in most cases are in deep deficits and are leading up to huge debts and budget run offs. The money that we pay is supposed to go toward infrastructure and the services we count on and every time our taxes are raised, there is a promise for better service. Ironically, as taxes increase throughout the country, the quality of our roads and infrastructure, our education and healthcare, and the safety net that we are obliged to fund are all deteriorating.  As we speak, public servants with inflated salaries and perks are going on spending sprees and having their unions try to hold taxpayers as hostages. As we speak, government officials are wasting our money and in some cases, even allegedly funding organized crime. Government and bureaucracy in Canada: hand in hand, putting their hands in the public piggy bank, it is time for change.

Liberal Interim Leader Bob Rae slammed the Tory’s recent financial statement and offered up his own recipe to fixing Canada’s ailing economy.

On April 25, a 500 page document was allegedly handed to the Liberal Party of Canada by Conservative insiders that contained an organized inventory of all of Stephen Harper’s controversial quotes ranging from abortion to western alienation.

From the student to the environmentalist to this, a father and his wife who claim they are nobodies but are denouncing Harper’s Conservatives, tossed in the rain with distress on their faces. Harper has slapped democracy again. Yesterday, Michael Ignatieff welcomed a group of Conservative supporters to his crowd, and today, the Conservatives ban what they would consider a foreigner – a person who does not share their views. Tomorrow is the election and everything must be considered. In the previous post, we covered the agendas, and there are several features and posts on the incumbent’s government. Governments should be held accountable for their actions and Harper’s party is avoiding it at all costs.

The Conservatives only had one defense when it came to the Motion of Contempt that kicked them out of power. It was that it was a solely opposition-based ordeal. Now that the Auditor General comes out with a report on the G8 and G20 summits echoing the opposition’s call of ‘lack of transparency,’ Harper will have quite a bit to worry about. From the campaign of accountability came the ‘In and Out’ scandal, staffers who are being investigated for fraud, G8 funding for borders which landed 300km away from any type of border and was used as bribe money for a riding.

The Liberal Party of Canada released their five point plan to get the Canadian economy back on track while investing in Canadians. The five point plan includes changing directions with the economy, helping families, cleaning up the environment, bringing Canadians together, and creating a new image for Canada on the world stage. The full platform can be downloaded at: http://cdn.liberal.ca/files/2011/04/liberal_platform.pdf