Bad Budget Burns the West: Just Jealous, says Harper

Harper appears to be expanding his repertoire of derogatory comments from the Liberals in the House of Commons to the Premiers of our Western Provinces. It seems these Premiers can’t understand why they are paying for Charest to be re-elected. The Star reports,

“We want Charest to win but we didn’t think we would have to pay for it like this,” snapped Liberal MP Roy Cullen (Etobicoke North), who said he was appalled by the Quebec premier’s decision to use the money to give tax cuts to Quebec.”

With unmitigated gall, Harper has the nerve to imply that our Premiers are “caught up in unwarranted regional jealousy”. According to the Globe and Mail, Harper’s response to their complaints was,

“We can always ignore what we’re getting ourselves, look at the other guy and say, ‘Oh, he’s getting everything.”

I do not believe the Premier’s criticisms are unwarranted. If this many Premiers are complaining, then there is obviously something grotesquely wrong with what Harper has done. Campbell, for one, has never been one to put up a huge fuss over federal budgets before. The situation is clearly alarming.

The National Post reports today on Charest and Harper’s actions today,

“Keep in mind that this most desperate of premiers governs a province that debt-finances Canada’s most unaffordable lifestyle. Yet Mr. Charest diverted the windfall given Quebec in this week’s budget to a tax cut worth $750 per average Quebec family, buying votes using Ontario, Alberta and B.C. currency.”

As a student, I have also been paying attention to the budget’s affect on post secondary education. It appears that some Universities are content with the budget, but students have little to be pleased about in this plan.

Despite the increased money for universities, critics say that there’s very little in the budget for students themselves.