Ignatieff to take a day to decide whether to support government

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said Thursday he will take one more day to review the Conservatives' second economic progress report before deciding on whether to try to force an election.

Ignatieff spoke shortly after Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered the report Thursday in Cambridge, Ont., at a town hall-style event moderated by Senator Mike Duffy. In exchange for supporting the Conservative budget in January, the Liberals demanded quarterly reports on the state of the economy and on how federal stimulus funds were being spent.

"I am responsible to millions of Canadians," Ignatieff told reporters in Montreal. 

"What they expect of me is to do my job properly and I'm trying to do it properly. So I'm going to look at the report tonight if I get a minute and tomorrow, and then we'll make a decision," he said after giving a speech to Quebec business leaders.

"And we're not going to keep people hanging around. We'll make a decision and it will be clear: up or down."

The Liberals will have to table a no-confidence motion if they wish to force a summer election.

The Liberals need the help of the Bloc Québécois and New Democratic Party to topple the government. The Bloc and NDP have consistently voted against the government for the last two years, but may be less keen now that the Liberals have edged ahead in opinion polls.

'You have to have a PhD in economics to figure out whether [the money] has actually got out the door.' —Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff

NDP finance critic Thomas Mulcair, speaking shortly after Harper gave his address, said there is nothing in the update to justify his party supporting the minority government if the Liberals try to force an election.

"Why did they make the announcement hundreds of kilometres away from Parliament and not in Parliament as they were supposed to do with a cream-puff interview with Mike Duffy, the former TV guy from CTV who's now a Conservative senator?" he said.

And Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, speaking at question period in the House of Commons in the afternoon, was equally harsh in his criticism of the progress report.

"Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' stimulus plan is a complete failure and the number of jobless is on the rise — that's good news for them, I imagine. The deficit is increasing on a daily basis," he said.

"And we have no choice but to vote against the appropriations under this inadequate plan."

'They don't care — I care'

Ignatieff lashed out at both the NDP and BQ for their quick criticism of the weighty 234-page progress report.

"The NDP and the Bloc, they don't bother to read it, right?" he said. "They don't care — I care."

In delivering the progress report, Harper said 80 per cent of the multibillion-dollar stimulus fund has been "committed and is being implemented." That translates into 3,000 individual projects, he said.

Harper did not make any new announcements, highlighting instead a long list of public projects.

"They announce, they reannounce, they reannounce the announcements," Ignatieff said, speaking of the Conservatives. "Mr. Harper was doing that today.

"You have to have a PhD in economics to figure out whether [the money] has actually got out the door. Our objection to the whole government's performance is that we cannot establish whether the money is getting out."

Ignatieff said municipal mayors and councillors have been telling him "with one voice — where is the money?"

EI conflict

Mulcair, meanwhile, accused the government of failing Canadians who have lost their jobs during the recession by refusing to adopt changes to the employment insurance act called for by the three main opposition parties.

Harper dismissed opposition calls for a national eligibility standard — led by Ignatieff — for employment insurance, telling the Cambridge audience that the EI program is "responding to the realities of the recession."

The opposition-championed proposal of a national eligibility standard of 360 hours to qualify for EI is a "bad, expensive idea," he said.

"This would vastly increase this program's cost and do it permanently," he said.

However, he did suggest the government is considering making changes to the program in the fall, but didn't provide any further details.

The prime minister warned "needless political instability" could pitch the country off the course of financial recovery.

No tax hikes

Opposition parties regularly "bemoan" government tax cuts, and call for "tens of billions more" in permanent stimulus spending, he said.

While raising taxes is one way to pay for increased federal spending, Harper said his government "will not entertain" that option, saying raising taxes would be a "mistake of historic proportions."

"We will do our best to listen to good ideas that can help us during this recession," said Harper. "But we will not do things that we know will harm the country in the long run."

While Harper acknowledged the deficit — expected to be $50 billion this fiscal year — is significant, he said it is affordable and temporary.

"Stimulus spending must be temporary. It must end when the recession ends," he said.

Short-term spending will support long-term economic growth, he said.