Bakeries and the budget

It was a busy day for me here in Montreal.  I spent most of it at two different archives.  Fortunately, things went much faster than I had scheduled for and so I will be returning home a full day earlier.  I hope my next visit to Montreal is for more entertaining purposes.  It was a hectic day, so there really is no great restaurant review to make, although I highly recommend any location of Mamie Calfoutis bakery.  I grabbed a croissant sandwich at the rue St-Denis location and it was excellent, as was the tarte au sucre.

I have not had a chance to share my reaction to the federal budget.  I decided to think about it for a short while and let it digest before saying anything.  Trust me, this was not easy.  I have great difficulty digesting just about anything that comes from the Harper government.  They have given much of the country a long, miserable case of heartburn.  Forget the oil pipelines, what we really need is a pipeline to supply us all with a liquid antacid.

If you are rich, like the rich, and really like war, this is a great budget for you.  It provides more of the same usual tax cuts and credits for those at the top, and continues the tradition of bribing people with their own money by telling them they'll get some of it back as along as they pay it first.  There's a few million in there for an unjust and immoral conflict Canada has no part in.  The Conservatives will argue though that these radicals in the Middle East have declared war on Canada.  The truth is, they've declared war on just about everyone who isn't like them.  Violent and threatening, yes.  Worth being concerned about, absolutely, but going to war over?  No.  The government should be looking after the problems here at home, not somewhere else.  We have enough social, political, and economic problems of our own to look after.  I'd like to know why in the city where I'm spending the night as I type this, there are people living in mansions in some neighbourhoods, but people sleeping on doorsteps in others?  Why is there no inquiry into all of those aboriginal women who have gone missing or were mysteriously murdered? 

Mr. Oliver, the Finance Minister says he balanced the budget.  At what expense did he do this though?  He robbed the government's contingency fund of $2 billion, two-thirds of its balance.  That fund is there for when there are real emergencies that the government needs to pay for.  A major natural disaster or apprehended civil unrest is an emergency, balancing the budget to make your corrupt party look good in an election year is not.  Some funding announced in the budget does not take effect for four or five years either.  This is nothing but a selfish, partisan trick.  The Conservatives are dangling a rotten carrot on a stick in front of you.  Vote for us, we may do something nice in a couple of years...if we feel like it...but we could change our minds.

It's nearly time for tea and then time for bed.