And as the Liberals cannot possibly face an election at this time — Ignatieff has reportedly been brutally frank about this in caucus — far the greater likelihood is that the budget will pass.
Unless… Unless the Tories can find some way to make it impossible for the Liberals to accept it. They have to be careful: they don’t want to lose the public. But suppose they were to spend the next several weeks advertising their willingness to work with the opposition — especially the Liberals. And suppose they were to take on board many of the opposition demands: a massive bailout for Big Auto. Billions more in infrastructure spending, complete with “shovels in the ground” photo-ops. A feel-good meeting with the premiers in mid-January, ending in some sort of agreement to “work together” on the economy. All wrapped up in a budget whose every second word is “stimulus.” And now suppose, having given the Liberals just about everything they could ask for, they also include the party financing proposal.
So the Liberals pass the budget and wait for legislation on party financing to be introduced, as it must be. They let the legislation through the first couple of readings, promising to make it better in committee, working with the other opposition parties which combined have a majority on said committee.
The bill then dies, or is returned to Parliament as some kind of ghastly horror the government cannot possibly support.
Check, Mr. Harper.
