Layton is the right guy, making the right decision

Brian Topp, The Globe and Mail:

Jack Layton made a big decision Tuesday. And there is a ring to that sentence that Canadians are getting increasingly comfortable with. Mr. Layton enters this campaign as the most respected, trusted and effective national leader on the opposition bench. It was therefore fitting that the fate of Jim Flaherty's sixth budget ended up in his hands.

Of all the parties, the New Democrats are the least likely partner for Mr. Harper's government. There is little common ground between this ministry and its most effective opposition. So, for example:

» New Democrats fundamentally reject this government's core economic policy, which would have it that spending well in excess of $20-billion a year on passive tax giveaways to the most fortunate among us will lead to prosperity for the rest.

» New Democrats also fundamentally reject this government's fiscal policy, which is (in our mild Canadian way) reckless spendthriftery on the model of American neo-conservatism. This government is simultaneously aggressively cutting taxes for wealthy Canadians and profitable companies, while increasing its spending by 6 per cent a year.

» The federal government will soon re-negotiate the terms under which it will help fund public health care between 2014 and 2024. New Democrats don't trust Stephen Harper with that critical negotiation.

» Mr. Harper's government has walked away from Canada's obligations on climate change, in order to promote the export of raw bitumen from Alberta to Texas. This is environmental madness, and straight economic theft from the children of all Albertan families as their provincial resources are peddled for a fraction of their worth.

» Mr. Harper's government has greatly harmed Canada's good name in the world on many issues.

» And, last but certainly not least, Prime Minister Harper has presided over what Donald Savoie accurately calls a "court government", while attacking Canada's democracy, its system of responsible government and its parliamentary system at their roots. A remarkable descent by a Conservative leader who built his brand in large part by promising to do better.

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