A modest Federal Budget avoids Election

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty kept to his word and offered no major spending initiatives on Tuesday February 26, but tabled a plan he said was designed to "weather any sudden economic storms." The focal point is a new tax-free savings account, to start next year and allow Canadians to save up to $5,000 a year and not be taxed on any investment income, including capital gains.

But critics said the economic blueprint, which allocated all of the $10.2 billion surplus for this year (ending March 31) to reducing the $457 billion debt, did nothing to help the working poor, the environment or Canada's big cities.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion called the budget a "grab bag" but said it wasn't worth fighting an election over. Stephen Harper won a minority government in January, 2006 and there has been speculation Dion would join NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe and defeat the economic plan next week, forcing an April election.

Read the story from The Globe and Mail

Read the story from the Toronto Star

Read the story from the CBC

Embarrassing photo courtesy of Canadian Press