Contrasting strategies

On this week's Question Period, all three federal opposition leaders were given a chance to discuss how they'll handle the Cons' upcoming budget. And the answers may signal a key difference between their respective strategies going into the next year.

First off, Stephane Dion appears to be taking a solidly negative line on the budget, offering possible reasons why the Libs might vote against it but not providing any answer as to what could make it worth voting for:

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said he has no plans to bring down the government over the 2007 Conservative budget expected sometime in the New Year, but at the same time said he can't in good conscience vote-in a fiscal plan he opposes.

"If the budget is unacceptable for Canadians, I cannot stand up and vote for something that I think will not be good for the country," he told CTV's Question Period in an interview aired Sunday...

"Especially because this government is so right-wing that it's very likely that this government would be very frustrated by the incapacity which Mr. Harper has to fulfill his agenda. We never know what will happen. A budget is coming. Will he have the support of the House for the budget? ... It may be yes, it may be no."

Gilles Duceppe doesn't appear to have addressed the budget directly. But then, his party's price on the budget is well-established in terms of a lump sum payout to the provinces rather than a federal governing strategy.

Then there's the NDP, which will spend the month of January highlighting what should be in the budget before deciding how to handle the document the Cons put forward:

(Jack Layton) said the NDP will lay out its proposals for the Conservative budget in January, and will measure them against the final product when deciding whether to support the fiscal plan.

If the Conservatives haven't made concessions on key issues, the NDP could bring down the government, he said.

"That's the way it works."

Now, the approach has its risks politically, as it in turn gives the Cons a chance to affect the NDP's vote by choosing how many (or how few) of the proposals to include in their budget. And that won't be the case for the Libs, since Dion can easily afford to describe any budget in broad strokes as "right-wing" or "unacceptable" (or conversely as "moderate" or "acceptable" if the polls take a turn against the Libs) while making his decision based on other grounds.

But from the standpoint of pushing for the best budget possible, it's surely a better step to put a set of proposals in the public eye and let the Cons try to justify any deviation from them, rather than simply sitting back and waiting to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to the final product while declining to influence its content. And if the Cons choose to ignore the NDP's proposals, then Layton will be able to vote down the budget in better conscience than those who haven't tried to shape it.