Monday's federal budget has attracted the expected reactions. The Business Council of B.C. said the promise of economic growth and deficit reduction should provide a stable environment for the business community.
New Democrat Jack Layton - and now leader of the official opposition - stuck with the party line saying the budget failed to address retirement security, a need for job creation and the shortage of family doctors. That criticism vaulted him to 103 seats and considerably upgraded digs following our May romp to the polls and it's a given Layton is going to stay with what he sees as a winning tactic.
Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae was considerably more colourful.
On the budget Rae said, "This is a groundhog budget. It takes us where we were in March with a couple of very few changes." (Believe me, that's the exact quote.)
Scrambled syntax aside, Rae's reference to the movie Groundhog Day - where the story line has the lead character repeating the same day over and over again - was a clever way of making the point that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was simply re-running his March budget.
If you haven't seen Groundhog Day I won't give it away, and although the storyline has every day beginning the same way, the plot builds on a theme of successful adaptation to re-occurring events and Rae's Hollywood reference may hit the mark in more ways than he'd intended.
Jim Flaherty's June reiteration of his March budget focuses on restraint, deficit reduction, a balanced budget by the fiscal year 2014-15, and the faint hope of economic growth through a no-surprises program of corporate tax cuts.
Putting on the national blinkers, Canadians may question the need for restraint and deficit cutting. However, if we take a quick look beyond our borders it's becoming alarmingly clear we have to chart a tough economic course in increasingly troubled waters.
Or to put it in more contemporary terms: looking at the global economy is like driving a well-maintained and almost-paid-for car down the freeway while trying to avoid a crush of rusty, wheezy and about-to-be-repossessed clunkers.
The American economy is struggling with massive debt loads. The U.S. government must pass a bill this summer raising its debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, or risk defaulting on its loans. Unemployment south of the border is close to double digits, and in many states, such as Michigan, it's over 10 per cent.
The Euro-zone is a basket case.
Debt levels in Greece and Spain are spinning beyond control with little hope for any long-lasting remedy.
It is in this context that Canada, a small nation of 34 million, has to assess its strengths, contain its debt and be prepared for anything the collapsing world economy may throw at us.
It would be nice to adopt the narrow view of the anti-globalization crowd and pretend we can go it alone. Become the North Korea of the Americas. But isolation is not in the cards: we owe our existence and our considerable economic wealth to global trade.
Canada survived the economic meltdown of 2007-2009 with our economy, our credit rating and our financial institutions intact. We did so because a succession of governments - including the Liberal government of Jean Chretien - contained spending and understood the fragility of our Canadian economy in the harsh reality of international pressures.
Jim Flaherty's restraint budget understands our weakness, our strengths and, like the plot in Groundhog Day, recognizes that if you're stuck with events beyond your control: assess the scene and be prepared to adapt. From that perspective, Bob Rae was right
By the way, the movie does have a happy ending.
The dinosaur end
of Canada Post
Every strike, every labor stoppage in the public service has a psychological aspect. The public may, or may not, be on side. That's a risk the public sector unions take.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is on the wrong side of the public in their current series of rotating strikes.
As a nation we're not as dependant on Canada Post as we once were. Technology and courier companies have taken over much of the business.
Since 2006 the volume of letters delivered by Canada Post has decreased by 17 per cent.
That trend will only increase. There's a reason it's called snail mail. Striking for unrealistic starting salary expectations or overly generous vacation allotments will not change the reality of twenty-first-century communication systems.
Wake up and smell the future CUPW, while you still can.
