'Balanced Joe' Gives Bland Budget Speech Designed for the Hustings

It would be cruel -- but not inaccurate -- to suggest that the most exciting parts of the tedious budget speech delivered yesterday by Joe Oliver, the Conservative minister of finance, were his references to historic figures and events.

He mentioned the country's Fathers of Confederation, asserting: "I think they would be pleased with the Canada we have become."

Yes, he said that.

Oliver also referenced the Last Spike (which marked the completion in 1885 of the Canadian Pacific Railway) by way of making the dreary claim that "infrastructure has been vital to Canada's success as a country."

Oh.

Oliver even quoted -- sigh -- George Santayana, the oft-quoted philosopher who, more than a century ago, wrote that, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

You get the gist of it. Oliver's budget address truly must rank as one of the blandest, most boring and wearisome speeches ever made since the Fathers of Confederation convened a century-and-a-half ago to found the Dominion of Canada and build infrastructure.

In other words, it was a perfect "conservative" budget speech for a Conservative government that will head to the hustings in less than six months to face voters.

Nothing to see here, folks. Only a "balanced," pre-election budget, just as Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised several years ago when his government began racking up multibillion dollar deficits in the wake of the 2008 global economic meltdown.

Cites history

Except, Oliver -- who reportedly was hailed as "Balanced Joe" by his fellow Tory members of Parliament for his heroic accomplishment of matching revenues and expenditures -- made one very interesting historical reference.

And that was to Donald Fleming, Canada's 27th minister of finance. (Oliver is the 46th person to hold the post.)

"Like me," the finance minister told the House of Commons, Fleming "was a proud member of a Conservative government, and like me, he had the honour of representing the good people of Eglinton, the predecessor to my own riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, in the great city of Toronto."

Oliver even offered up some lengthy quotes from Fleming -- who served as John Diefenbaker's finance minister from 1957 to 1962 -- that mercifully may be shortened to "the winds of prosperity again fill our sails," and "Canada marches on unflinchingly towards its bright destiny."

Yes, even Fleming's 65-year-old quotes (at least the ones recited by Oliver) are uninspiring and vapid -- even though the man himself was not.

Fleming sought the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative party on three separate occasions -- in 1948, 1956 and 1967 -- but each attempt fell short of success.

A barrister by profession, he first won election to the House of Commons in 1945 and was returned in five consecutive contests before retiring as a MP in 1963.

In the words of author and historian Peter Newman, Fleming was "the most formidable member" of Diefenbaker's cabinet, "beating off the impious assaults of political opponents like a Salvation Army major decrying the taunts of street-corner drunks."

Another member of the parliamentary press gallery once wrote that the finance minister "doesn't just fight an issue. He beats it to death. Then cuts its throat, slashes its wrists, throws acid in its face, and sets fire to it."

Fleming also -- like Harper, Oliver and their Conservative colleagues in government -- was a devout proponent of "balanced" budgets.

Except -- similarly to the current administration -- he found it impossible to actually perform the task, unwilling or unable to stand up to Diefenbaker's incoherent spending priorities.

Newman again: "The dimensions of Fleming's surrender [to Diefenbaker] were impressive. He served as minister of finance for 1,874 days and tabled seven budgets."

According to the writer's calculations, Ottawa's revenues during Fleming's tenure totalled about $32 billion, while expenditures came to $35 billion.

"This fact meant that Fleming was responsible for spending an average of $1.56 million more per day than he was taking in," Newman wrote, "a record in peacetime deficit financing not surpassed even during the Depression of the '30s."

"Balanced Joe," it seems clear, knows that a Conservative finance minister by the name of Fleming once represented the same Toronto neighbourhood that he, himself, now represents.

As for his predecessor's record in office, well, Oliver appears to be less than familiar with that part of history. Is he doomed to repeat it?

Budget goodies

Yet, for all its insipid rhetoric, Oliver's budget offered numerous goodies for key constituencies of Tory supporters. Let us look at three.

First, consider that Canada's three Prairie provinces currently elect 56 members of Parliament. At present, 51 of those MPs are Conservatives.

Oliver's budget raises the lifetime capital-gains exemption for farmers to $1 million.

Which is to say, a farmer selling his land and operations now will be freed from paying capital-gains tax on the first million bucks he or she makes from the sale.

That won't hurt the Tories with rural voters in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, nor in parts of B.C., Quebec and -- especially -- Ontario.

Second, small-business owners -- that is, "entrepreneurs," and another bedrock Conservative constituency -- will enjoy two new measures affecting their corporate income tax rate.

One will see the threshold for the small-business income tax raised to $500,000; the other pledges to slash ("by 2019") the small-business tax rate from the current 11 per cent to nine per cent.

Budget documents state that the total cost of these changes in 2015 alone will be $2.2 billion.

Third, it often is said that seniors vote -- that is, with greater frequency than younger voters -- and they tend to vote Conservative.

Not surprisingly, yesterday's budget will help seniors preserve more of their retirement savings by reducing the minimum withdrawals from Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs).

Nod to seniors

It also introduces a new Home Accessibility Tax Credit for seniors and persons with disabilities to defray costs associated with making homes accessible.

The budget further claimed that increasing the annual maximum contribution to a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) from $5,500 to $10,000 will benefit mostly those 65 years of age and older.

By 2019, the budget stated, "about 60 per cent" of the benefits from doubling the TFSA will accrue to seniors.

Oliver ended his budget address in the same bland way that he delivered it.

"This entire budget," he said, indirectly quoting Donald Fleming, "is about our unflinching march into the future."

"Balanced Joe" even said -- you can look it up -- that "history guides our future."

And once again he noted Fleming's "winds of prosperity," which he said were "powering us toward an even brighter future."

The future, of course, is October 19 -- the date of Canada's 42nd general election.

That contest promises to be one of the most exciting in history. It should be, at any rate, unless we're all still asleep from listening to Oliver's "balanced" budget speech.