Unstable spending

While the Cons have spent much of their time lately throwing cash at anybody who stands still long enough to catch it, they're apparently not interested in providing any of that as stable funding to cities. And that reluctance likely speaks volumes about the Cons' lack of interest in funding much of anything in the long term:

Canada's towns and cities may be bursting with new residents but Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn't in a hurry to pledge cash to help them cope.

Harper yesterday conceded what the latest population tallies reveal – "the census continues to emphasize the urbanization of Canada," he said.

But speaking in King City, he pointedly dismissed a campaign by big city mayors for more funding and sidestepped a question on whether additional infrastructure cash from Ottawa might be in the works in light of the census data that show suburban regions growing rapidly...

(A)sked about the campaign of big city mayors who have been lobbying to get 1 cent of the goods and services tax to fix crumbling infrastructure – worth about $5 billion a year – Harper offered little hope.

Now, a large part of the calculation is undoubtedly a matter of political purchasing calculations - the Cons presumably figure they can give themselves a better chance of winning seats by putting their money elsewhere. But it's worth noting as well the difference between the long-term, stable funding requested by the cities, and the Cons' strong preference toward one-time or temporary funding announcements.

Generally, the Cons' direction appears to be toward long-term elimination of government through their pattern of random tax slashing, where each announcement is plainly intended to continue for the long term (not to mention be accelerated by their "tax-back" gimmick).

In contrast, the current pre-election spending drive has only a couple of components which could possibly be seen to involve long-term funding, compared to a raft of one-time announcements (particularly on the environment). Which sends a strong signal that the Cons' interest in the issues involved doesn't extend past the next federal election - while their commitment to hacking away at Canada's government in the long term knows no bounds.

Of course, even if the Cons were willing to make more announcements toward long-term funding for Canadians' priorities, there'd be every reason to doubt their sincerity. After all, the Cons made clear when they took office that no federal promise to continue funding would be given any weight past a single year at most.

Which should make Canadians rightly suspicious that if the Cons ever managed to win a majority, all the priorities which the Cons are so happily funding now would face exactly the same flat rejection as Canada's cities have received in their quest for stable funding.