Speaking on CTV's Question Period Sunday, Layton suggested that the NDP's continuing support for Paul Martin's minority government will depend in part on the Liberals' stance on medicare, gas prices and the environment...
Layton said the NDP would oppose any Liberal attempts to give corporations tax breaks and agreed that the government could fall if the issue became the subject of a confidence motion. Layton had insisted that a corporate tax break be dropped from the Liberals' last budget in return for NDP support.
"It's a bad policy," he told Question Period's Craig Oliver. "In fact, one of our candidates is the former chief economist of the Royal Bank...and he says what we need to do is not give more corporate tax breaks, but begin to invest in the key areas for the 21st century economy."
It's great to see the focus on the economic upside of progressive policies, though a tighter link between health care and economic opportunity would have been all the better. And more importantly, the theme of reasonable cooperation has been nothing but effective for Layton, especially when contrasted with the continued Con theme of blaming the other parties for getting things done.
The one part of Layton's appearance that has drawn some criticism is his desire to both reduce gas prices, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But that's not so much a contradiction as a matter of the proper means to reaching the end. There are ways to reduce emissions which don't harm consumers in the short term the way inflated gas prices do, and it's entirely fair to look to means those rather than to place the full impact of current gas prices on Canadians who haven't been able to plan for them.
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