Thursday, February 05, 2009

Ignatieff Liberals own Harper Tories budget

The Coalition of the Unwilling may be dead, but the Ignatieff Liberals have already overshadowed the Dion era by forcing the Harper Tories on a budget amendment vote that require regular reports to Parliament on the budget's implementation and costs, set for March, June and December, which basically keeps the leash on the same old new government. Though all MPs voted to allow it by a 214 to 84 margin, the other former coalition partners, the New Democrats and Bloc Québécois voted against it absolutely, which has officially put an end to an interesting political experiment in consensus solution building as a new found decision making process tool by the collective opposition. Those unaccountable billions of dollars being spent by a undisciplined Ottawa will now have a watchdog report tagged onto them, which in the end may not actually change anything, but at least it gives the appearance of it, with a promissory note to the taxpayer of something more lasting and legislatively enforceable in the future.