Perhaps Equalization is "too political"
Hey! It looks like the Saskatchewan Tories have disappeared.
One can also see why our supposedly accountable Conservative MPs have run like scared rabbits since the Harper letter was pulled from the proverbial hat.I have the answer!The best explanation came from Lukiwski's secretary who said Wednesday that he was in the riding and not in cell phone range. Lukiwski is a Regina MP. He has been in his riding out of cell phone range since Wednesday.
There again, this is the same Tom Lukiwski who failed to mention equalization in his spring MP report entitled Keeping our Commitments! (Hey, didn't you move that motion in March 2005 calling for the Liberals to immediately sign an equalization deal with Saskatchewan, Tom? Tommy, Tommy, can you hear me?)
They have all taken their lessons from their boss, Steve-o. This whole equalization file has become "too political" and so they are avoiding making any comment about it. (see below post if you don't know what I am talking about)
Of course, it wasn't too political to put in thier platform:
Fiscal imbalanceThe plan
In the last eight years, the federal government has amassed enormous surpluses. Meanwhile, many provinces have seen reduced revenues and have had to run deficits in order to pay for education, health, and other social programs. While some sectoral and ad hoc agreements with provinces have temporarily reduced the financial pressure, it is time for a comprehensive agreement.A Conservative government will:
• Work with the provinces in order to achieve a long-term agreement which would address the issue of fiscal imbalance in a permanent fashion.
• Work to achieve with the provinces permanent changes to the equalization formula which would ensure that non-renewable natural resource revenue is removed from the equalization formula to encourage economic growth. We will ensure that no province is adversely affected from changes to the equalization formula.