Let Me Tell You About “Plan B”
The Conservatives are all up in arms about a private member’s bill that would give tax cuts to parents who save for their children’s education and are going to try and get it blocked in the Senate, and if that doesn’t work, “There is always a plan B“.
They’re not willing to say what “Plan B” is, but given recent events I can make a pretty good prediction.
Harper will threaten to make it a confidence motion, Stéphane the rubber hammer of the Opposition Dion will tell the Liberals in the Senate to either kill it, or stall it until it dies on the order paper when the October 2009 election is called, and everybody except those trying to save some money for their kids education will walk away happy.
The only thing I can’t predict is whether or not Harper will make his threat publicly, or in quiet conversation after summoning Dion to his office.
I strongly support this motion, and I strongly disapprove of any attempt to kill it. I can’t image the bad publicity of killing a bill for families anyway…
What you or anyone else who voted thinks doesn’t matter Raphael, decision making authority was handed over at the polls.
All that matters is what Stephen Harper and Stephane Dion think.
I don’t like families being played with for political gain… so it does matter what we think if these people start playing with political carrots.
Isn’t there already a RESP program in place where the feds match donations, plus the parents get the tax break?
Why do we need another program?
/obviously don’t have kids
//children are not our greatest natural resource….oil is.
The reason the CPC should support this bill isn’t because of families. People have been going to Uni for centuries. The reason conservatives should support this bill is because it is another tax break.
It’s a gift from the Liberal rank-and-file. What better way to illuminate real opposition and “should have been” amendments. “We appreciate the comments from the NDP.”, indeed. How about the bringing into the spotlight Liberal back-benchers exhibiting leadership too . . . .
The Gov’t can find the money, scrape it out of human resources for all I care.
It’s strategically, fiscally and politically wrong for the CPC to come out against this.
Cheers,
lance
I suspect that “Plan B” has more to do with figuring out how to change the budget #s to accommodate this bill, although I can appreciate the gov’t being pi$$ed about it being someone else’s idea.
CPoC is supposed to be FOR tax breaks, ergo I expect(hope) they’ll figure out a way to make it work.
And mess with everyone’s heads at the same time (a Harper favorite).
That’s because you have more faith in the current federal government than many Candace, a great many of us do not share your faith and can back that up with recent events.
[...] one. Something the Conservatives ought to have considered since they knew they couldn’t vote it out. 8 March 2008 in Canada, Politics | Permalink☆ Share it any way you want [...]
Plan B – scrap it then introduce the same bill with a different name and, say, $5500 limit. Given past behaviour of this government, I suspect the problem with this bill isn’t that its a RESP plan of a tax break, but that its a LIBERAL tax break. They really don’t like that.
[...] A few days ago we predicted that the Conservatives would make the RESP issue a confidence motion – we were right. Part two of the prediction was that Dion would (yet again) fold – watch for it in the news. [...]