Sounds about right

I don't particularly buy the attempt to pretend there actually is much difference between the messages from Thomas Mulcair and Jack Layton on the budget. But to the extent one wants to try to find one, John Ibbitson nicely explains what it figures to mean:

(I)t remains in the NDP’s interest for Mr. Layton to be seen as willing to compromise. For one thing, it keeps him and his party in the news. And it plays to something the party’s internal polling has identified as a possible election asset. Among Liberal voters who might be tempted to vote NDP, the quality of the NDP they most admire is its willingness to work with other parties.

But when the time comes, when the budget is actually released and the corporate tax cuts haven’t been rescinded, the leader will join with the caucus in offering a resounding No.

Both the Liberals and the NDP are taking heart from a poll that showed only 21 per cent of Canadians support the idea of lowering corporate taxes. If they can make the election about those cuts, and almost nothing else, they have a chance of improving their standing after the next election. So defeating the budget that enables them is the obvious first step toward focusing voters’ minds on that one issue.