Apparently Jim Flaherty is looking to keep pressure on the other parties in Parliament (and keep the Cons' excuses for an election open) by announcing that he won't be setting aside the HST transition funding demanded by the Bloc in the Cons' next budget.
Now, I'll leave aside the issue of harmonization in general, particularly since Quebec has had a different arrangement in place than the other provinces in the pre-negotiation stage. But let's remind ourselves that the last time they went on a harmonization kick, the Cons happily set aside $5 billion at a time when not a single province was expressing any interest in taking it. So there shouldn't be any doubt that their latest excuse is a matter of sheer politics rather reflecting than any principled reluctance to set aside money if there are a few Ts to be crossed and Is to be dotted.
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