And a lot of folks on all sides of the fence are making the same Mulroney comparison.

Kid of funny actually.

true liberal, I hope you are right; but I fear you are not. A good deal of what was in yesterday’s budget was both contrary to the most basic tenents of conservatism and unnecessary. Why should we think that the Tories with a majority would be any truer to the basics of fiscal conservatism?

I suspect, however, that the easily frightened Central Canadian voters are liking this just fine. Harper knows that the easiest way to create a majority and a potential of a series of majorites, is to let those twitchy CCVs get used to the idea of a relatively benign, even cuddly, Conservative government. Which means every sharp edge, every point of principle, gets thrown under the bus. It is a shrewd, cynical and likely successful strategy.

Unfortunately, if it works, there is going to be a huge temptation to avoid doing anything which might frighten the CCVs. And as they have what amounts to a genetic propensity towards a Liberal agenda, such things as fiscal conservatism, a serious examination of our immigration policy, anything but Gorian orthodoxy on global warming, a more decentralized Confederation will be beyond discussion. This is, frankly, depressing.

But it is not really fair to call this a Liberal budget. A tax credit in the hands of parents is qualitatively different from Ken Dryden’s national day care program that we narrowly escaped.

Doling out cash to the provinces is also a disappointment - I’d have preferred to see tax cuts and let the provinces levy taxes if they think they need the money. But once again, this is qualitatively different than the Liberal “New Deal for Cities” that would have ensnarled the federal government into every town and city in the land.

It’s a big spending budget, but it’s not a Liberal budget.