Tories 'fine' with Liberal demand for stimulus updates: Clement

The federal government had always intended to provide Parliament with the periodic stimulus reports demanded by Opposition Liberals in return for supporting the budget, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Thursday.

"I think that they quite rightly are saying that we continue to be accountable to Canadians for our economic plan," Clement told CBC News in an interview from Ottawa.

"We feel very comfortable with that. That was certainly always our intention."

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff presented his party's amendment to the budget on Wednesday in the House of Commons. It will require regular reports to Parliament on the budget's implementation and costs, to be delivered in March, June and December of this year.

Each report would be an opportunity for the opposition to express confidence in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government.

Ignatieff said he was putting the government "on probation" for its failure to plan and act in the face of the current economic crisis.

Clement said the Opposition was simply doing its job in calling for the updates.

"Reporting to Parliament is fine," he said. "Reporting to Canadians on a regular basis is required as well, and we intend to be doing that."

Budget expected to pass with Liberal support

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget promises billions of dollars in new spending — ranging from money for infrastructure projects to aid for worker training and cash for more employment insurance benefits — to help the country ride out the economic downturn.

But it also projects a total of $85 billion in deficits by the spring of 2013.

With the NDP and the Bloc Québécois set to vote against the government, the Conservatives require the support of Ignatieff's Liberals to ensure the budget passes and prevent a Liberal-NDP coalition from seeking to form a government with the support of the Bloc — or another election.

Despite limiting his demands solely to the economic updates, Ignatieff decried a number of the budget's "flaws."

He said the document doesn't go far enough to protect Canadians who have lost or will lose their jobs, fails to extend employment insurance eligibility and doesn't do enough to encourage green technologies.

Flaherty's plan, Ignatieff charged, also opens the door for attacks on pay equity for women and provides no new child care spaces.

In addition, the budget lacks a "credible plan" for getting Canada out of the $85-billion deficit over the next five years and attaches strings to infrastructure dollars that may delay projects and job creation, he said.

NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe lambasted Ignatieff for supporting the Harper government, with Layton saying the Liberal leader has formed a "new coalition" with the Tories.