Go Mikey
With out some type of stimulus - like building infrastructure to move the economy - this credit freeze will hit us a lot harder than we need

OH GREAT!! Just what Canada needs right now is for the federal government to start acting like spoilt brats!! Grow up already!! Now is not the time to topple government for God sakes. Get along and work together to insure that the canadian people are taken care of. Stop the crap and get along. The oposition will never be happy until they are the ones sitting in the big chair. They were planning all along to not work with Harper even before the saw the budget. The problem issss that Harper's background is finances and I do not see one person on the oposition with his background right now. He is the best person to lead us ad keep us out of the crap the financial market is in. Live with it!!!

Once the excitement dies down the liberals will huddle, decide that now is not the time to eviscerate their own party and vote with the government or be out sledding on parliament hill when the vote is taken..

These measures seen reasonable to me. wtf Ignatieff?

"The problem issss that Harper's background is finances"

You hit the nail on the head. That is the problem down south. All those people whose background AND foreground is finances and those finance people created and slept throguh the indicators of the meltdown.

Little help a background in finance is going to be.

Thed majority in parliament is left of centre. The problem is, they are split into three parties. In some countries coalitions are built from such situations. In that case Harper would be the minority.

Not likely going to happen here and may not be good either if it did.

BUT, Harper could make a bit of an effort, put his ego aside, and form a coalition with one other party. But hey, it's not about the country is it? It's probably more about "it's my way or the highway".

Guess we'll find out shortly. So how would we vote then? Probably the same way.

Ignatieff: “We are tired of sitting down.”

Just vote against it if you are against it! If you are against it and refrain from voting so you will be endlessly ridiculed by Layton for being spineless and gutless!

Remember? Dam* the torpedoes - full speed ahead! Please!

"trimming ......... use of consultants, and use of external legal services"

Hmmmmm expanding the civil service. Good idea. Up and down like a yoyo. Bring more people into the fold and cause higher unemployement among the consultants, the hospitality industry, the travel industry and lose the taxes on a $3billion a year income.

If a larger civil service can save money, why not increase it some more and save more dollars? Are these conservatives or NDP? They should be able to form a coalition with the NDP from the looks of it.

Which one of those 'prima donnas' on the Opposition side is going to lead this Coalition? Ignatieff? Rae? Layton? Dion?Duceppe?? (That last would be the best choice, except his mob would have to forego separation for Quebec to make it work. But, hey, they really don't want to leave anyway, just use the threat to perpetually wring more money out of Ottawa.)

In any case, if the Conservatives lose a non-confidence vote, it would still be up to Harper, (according to the precedent set back in the 1920's), to advise the Governor-General to either call on such a Coalition to form the government, or dissolve Parliament and have another election. I don't think that broke, leaderless, inane-policied, gutless Liberal Party would want to take the chance Harper would opt for the latter.

Which one of those 'prima donnas' on the Opposition side is going to lead this Coalition? Ignatieff? Rae? Layton? Dion?Duceppe?? (That last would be the best choice, except his mob would have to forego separation for Quebec to make it work. But, hey, they really don't want to leave anyway, just use the threat to perpetually wring more money out of Ottawa.)

In any case, if the Conservatives lose a non-confidence vote, it would still be up to Harper, (according to the precedent set back in the 1920's), to advise the Governor-General to either call on such a Coalition to form the government, or dissolve Parliament and have another election. I don't think that broke, leaderless, inane-policied, gutless Liberal Party would want to take the chance Harper would opt for the latter.

If some of those percentage wage increases for some government workers are agreed upon and signed off, Harper will be out on his a@@ for breach of contract.

time for an other election?

Political grandstanding with no substance.
All the opposition parties are really doing is confirming what we already knew..they are truly IDIOTS!
$300 million dollars for an election and nothing has changed?
It's hard to believe that we actually pay these morons!
They will not bring down the government,and they won't even try.
Even they are not that stupid.
Defeating the government on an issue like this would spell the end to a lot of political careers.(maybe that's not a bad idea)
There will probably be enough members con viently absent for the vote and it will pass with flying colors.
We know that and so do they, so quit ebarrassing Canada and do your damn jobs...or consider another line of work.
Canada is facing economic disaster and this is the best these losers can do?
God help us all!

Getting rid of subsidizing political parties is a great idea. Getting rid of subsidizing radio stations are a great idea. Getting rid of subsidizing airlines is a great idea. $3 Billion average decrease per year over the next 5 years is a start. I will do my part to help uncover those stones that need exposed. Let's get serious about government waste and truly begin to question every expense government is obligated to.

I thought Flaherity left his options open. There is no sense in pumping money into cars or forestry until we see what the US is going to do.

He left the door open for a deficit budget as well. The federal government does need to spend money now in order to keep our economy rolling.

Remember, it was this government that got us in such a good position to weather what will probably be the worst economic failure in recent times,

Playing politics, pulling the funding for the opposition during a economic crisis, is just not right no matter if you support the move or not.

I think we will either see Duceppe as the next Prime Minister of a coalition government; or a new election and Ignatieff as the new Prime Minister in January. Both are preferable to a Prime Minister that tries to pull that kind of move in a vote of confidence for a economic crisis plan.

Harpers move says he plans to increase the voice of money'd corpocracy special interest in the funding and functioning of our government. Naturally he plans to be the benefactor of that as the one who currently controls power.

..."Remember, it was this government that got us in such a good position to weather what will probably be the worst economic failure in recent times,"

MY memory tells me otherwise. It was the Liberal government with Paul Martin as Finance Minister which eliminated deficit spending and established a record of seven consecutive surplus budgets, the envy of the G8 and others.

Now, however, the Conservatives are already close to being in the red and no surpluses at all.

We can argue about who did what in the past, but in the end looking back changes NOTHING. We need to look at today and the future.
Reviewing and trimming expenditures of all ministries - watching expenses
and getting rid of the 1.70 subsidy to political parties......what is wrong with that. That is exactly what I do in times of cash crunch. Liberals don't like that stopping the 1.70 because their party is so broke - their own fault. If the Liberals and the NCP force an election - I know I will NEVER vote for them. No one wants another election!!!!
Out here in BC many of us took wage cuts -most of us in the forest industry took cuts. We do what we have to do to keep things going. Liberal and NDP folks - quit whinning and start working together and supporting our country.

One think about the US - once they have a leader in power - they support him. In Canada we just bash them.

No one wants another election. If you remember correctly it was the Conservative Reform Alliance Party leader that called the last Federal election they weren't forced or was the mandate up it was because he believed it was the only way to stay in power. Remember this all about who has the power period. A coalition government would be an interesting idea though.