Two budgets with one thing in common: election
IT'S CERTAINLY NOT OFTEN that we see the two senior levels of government produce their annual budgets in the same week, much less when they share the same objective: to win the hearts of roughly four of every 10 voters.

Traditionally, our multi-party system has meant that when there are at least three parties in the field, one of the three can capture a majority of seats without having a majority of all votes cast. In fact, support of 40 per cent of those bothering to cast ballots is usually enough to achieve that objective.

As matters stand, the federal Conservatives are pretty close to the target, recent polls indicating they are short of it by only about three percentage points.

In Ontario, the Dalton McGuinty Liberals are similarly situated, although we suspect the coming months will show the Progressive Conservatives closing the gap. And, perhaps ironically, it may well be that expectation is what led the government to move a little to the left with more help for the working poor generally and those at minimum wage in particular.

Both the federal budget tabled by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and the provincial document from his Ontario counterpart, Greg Sorbara, show relatively little in the way of ideology while at least giving the appearance of dealing positively with issues.

The federal budget includes a $550 million "working income tax benefit" giving low-income families up to $1,000 for drug and dental benefits. And there's a new $2,000 child tax credit that will mean up to $310 per child, plus up to $209 more tax relief for single-income families with dependents.

There were also some goodies for seniors and families trying to ensure that their children can obtain post-secondary education. Seniors enjoy the prospect of income splitting and an ability to set money aside in Registered Retirement Savings Plans until the income earner reaches 71. Meanwhile, the cap on lifetime RESP contributions has been raised to $50,000.

And, in what some see as bids to "outgreen" the Green Party, the Stephen Harper government is promising a rebate of up to $2,000 on fuel-efficient cars and a "Green Levy" added tax on gas-guzzlers, while a special $1.5 billion transfer to the provinces will help them come up with measures to combat pollution and greenhouse gases and another $1.5 billion has been earmarked to support production of biofuels such as ethanol and $500 million for private-public biofuel production facilities.

In the health-care sector, federal spending is to jump $1.2 billion this year (to $21.3 billion), and then rise 6 per cent annually until at least 2014, with $300 million being earmarked for a national HPV program to protect women against cervical cancer.

And, to address what's portrayed as a "fiscal imbalance" between Ottawa and the provinces, the Harper government is hiking equalization payments to the poorer provinces (especially Quebec) by $1.5 billion and raising the Canada Social Transfer to the provinces $700 million this year and then 3 per cent per year to 2014. The amount includes $250 million per year for daycare and $800 million for post-secondary education, starting next year.

The Conservatives also promise to increase infrastructure spending while continuing the gasoline tax rebates introduced by the Paul Martin Liberals.

Other new spending includes $80 million over two years to the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service for "national security" and a lesser amount to help police combat marijuana "grow ops," along with an acceleration of defence spending that was announced last year.

Meanwhile, the McGuinty Liberals have promised to raise the minimum wage, now $8 an hour, to $10.25 by 2010, while phasing out a clawback of the $162-a-month National Child Benefit Supplement for families on welfare and introducing a new Ontario Child Benefit that will cost $2.1 billion in its first five years and benefit about 1.3 million children when implemented.

There's also to be $1.2 billion for public transit and local road and bridge repair, twothirds of which will be spent in the GTA; a $1.9 billion increase in health care spending (to a total of $35.4 billion); a $500 million increase for post-secondary education and $424 million more for schools, and more money for the arts but less for agriculture.

As for Dufferin-Caledon, our suspicion is that all we can hope for from Ottawa is a little more help for the few remaining full-time farmers in an area that once was a great farming zone. As for the Province, perhaps with an election coming in October, the government will at least "reconnect" Highway 9 between Orangeville and Harriston and announce the timing of the widening of Highway 10 through Caledon Village.