Tax cuts not dead: PM 
by Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch Updated 12:45 p.m. April 27, 2005]

OTTAWA  — A day after reaching a budget deal with the NDP that removed a tax cut for large Canadian businesses from the federal budget, Prime Minister Paul Martin said Wednesday he planned to introduce separate legislation to reintroduce the same measures. 

"We have pulled the large corporate tax cuts out of this budget to be pursued in a separate piece of legislation," Martin said in an interview with Canadian Press Wednesday. "And that separate piece of legislation we'll introduce as soon as the Conservatives or somebody say they will support it. "

On Tuesday, Martin and NDP Leader Jack Layton reached an agreement in principle to cancel a budget measure for tax cuts for large corporations in exchange for $4.6 billion in new social spending on items such as social housing and the environment.

Under this agreement, the NDP is now bound to support the minority Liberal government on confidence votes until the budget implementation bill receives Royal Assent in the senate. 

The Conservatives currently have three non-confidence motions floating around Parliament that could bring down Martin's government in May. 

Combined the NDP and the Liberals have three fewer votes than the combined votes of the Bloc Quebecois and the Tories. The balance of power is now in the hands of the three independent MPs. One MP, Carolyn Parrish, has already said she will support the government in a confidence vote. 

But the two other MPs - David Kilgour and Chuck Cadman - are now in play.

After telling the CBC on Monday that he would vote to defeat the government, Cadman backed away from that comment on Tuesday and told the Toronto Star he has not made up his mind. 

If Martin can win the support of the three independent MPs for a non-confidence vote then that would create a tie in the House, which would be broken by the Liberal speaker. 

Meanwhile, Martin's deal with the NDP received largely negative reviews from business stakeholders and editorial boards over the past 24 hours. 

"By reneging on the corporate tax cuts in the 2005 budget, the deal announced today will sacrifice Canada's ability to foster more high-paying jobs and to ensure that our economy grows fast enough to pay for the massive federal commitments to expanding social programs and equalization payments," Thomas d'Aquino, president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, said in a statement. 

And a Globe and Mail editorial called the agreement "crummy" and said it makes Martin look weak.

"By making this grubby little deal with the NDP, Prime Minister Paul Martin came across as weak and panicky, undercutting his recent attempts to appear like a man in charge of events," the Globe, which supported the PM in the last federal election, said. 

The leaders of the other opposition parties weighed in on Wednesday morning as well. 

Speaking to reporters in Ridgetown, Ontario, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper called the revised budget "an NDP budget."

The Conservatives were the only opposition party not to vote against the Liberal budget earlier this year and abstained, allowing Martin's minority to survive. But Harper now says the new changes will not have the support of his party. 

"Mr. Martin has shown in the past year or so that he's capable of having any position at any time," Harper said. "And I think now with the kind of corruption scandals his government is burdened with, he's shown he's going to do just about anything. And we can't allow a government to operate like this."

In Montreal, Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe said despite the increase spending on social programs, the new budget will not be supported by his party because it does nothing to address the "fiscal imbalance" between the provinces and federal government. 

"If it's good for Quebec we will support it. If it's not good for Quebec we won't support it. And the Layton-Martin deal is not good for Quebec," he said. 
 

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