On premeditation

It's certainly worth raising the alarm over the Cons' passage of crucial attacks on Parliamentary accountability through lines buried in their omnibus budget bills. But let's also keep in mind what the move says about their supposed commitment to fiscal discipline.

In the spring of 2007, there wasn't much immediate reason for anybody to be concerned about federal borrowing in the wake of large surpluses. And indeed the Cons were a year and a half away from a campaign where they continued to pretend that Canada would never run a deficit on their watch.

But apparently, even while nobody else was expecting Canada to face a sea of red ink, Deficit Jim and Recession Stephen were already scheming to put the public on the hook for borrowed money without Parliamentary oversight. Which in turn suggests that the Cons have always planned to drive Canada into the red, and engaged in plenty of work in advance to avoid public scrutiny when they did so.

Of course, there's never been much room for dispute how ridiculous it is that right-wing, slash-and-burn parties like the Harper Cons claim any reputation as remotely competent fiscal managers. But the Cons' advance planning for unaccountable borrowing looks like thoroughly compelling evidence against their claim to having any interest in managing the country responsibly - and the opposition parties should be eager to reverse the change by pointing out the premeditation involved.