The date of the budget, all politicians may find it hard to believe, is something that many Canadians are interested in because they are looking to Ottawa for little help in these nervous economic times. I personally know people who lost their job last week and have other friends who were laid off last month. Those folks were counting on the PM when he told reporters in Peru last week that he stood ready with "unprecedented fiscal action." A week later, his finance minister promised no new initiatives and, in fact, cut spending. To the newly jobless, a budget "just over 30 days" away is about 30 days too late.

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Government House Leader Jay Hill announced the following changes in the business of the House of Commons for next week: - The Liberal Supply Day that was designated for Monday, December 1, 2008 will be rescheduled for Monday, December 8, 2008 . . .   more »

"Never again will we allow the spectre of overspending to haunt this land," then Finance Minister Paul Martin said 1998. "Canadians have paid to see the movie ‘The Deficit'. They don't want to pay to see the sequel." Now, just over a decade later, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is bracing Canadians to watch that sequel. It's a remarkable turn for Harper who has fought against deficits and in favour of balanced budgets his entire political life. Indeed, he and other former Progressive Conservatives left the the party of Brian Mulroney in the early 1990s partly because of their disgust in his inability to rein in government spending and tackle the deficit . . .

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"In terms of the education job, I think we've done a good job at educating the public to the view that deficits are generally bad," Stephen Harper said Sunday. "We now may be in a period where we have to educate the public to a somewhat less simplistic view. There are occasions where deficits are not only not necessarily bad, they are essential."

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Conservative blogger ...Taylor, whether it be by dint of his connections or persistence, has what it is, so far as I know, the first one-on-one interview (left) with our new Industry Minister Tony Clement. In the interview, Clement notes that he's been "drinking from the firehose", so to speak, in terms of bringing himself up to speed on issues within his portfolio. The first days of his tenure, of course, have been dominated by questions about support for the auto sector. But, as Clement tells Taylor, autos isn't the only sectoral interest he has. He's also concerned, for example, about aerospace and forestry...

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The Conservative Party of Canada holds its second ever policy convention this week in Winnipeg and, after quickly glancing over the social calendar, there's no denying the Conservatives know how to put the party back into Conservative Party! In addition to a National Caucus Meeting (Thursday afternoon), a speech by the One, the Only, the Right Honourable Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper (Thursday night), and lots of policy discussions, there will also be lots of social or semi-social things to do for the 700 or so delegates who will attend. For one thing, I've heard a certain Environment Minister has a hospitality suite if you care to pop by and discuss the future of the Conservative Party of Canada. . . .

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For the last couple of years, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Wiliams has derisively referred to Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper as "Steve". But today, Williams referred to Harper only as the prime minister and said the time for partisan politics is over. "In times like this, in times of crisis, in times of a serious situation in this country, it's not the time for parochial issues or individual jurisdictional issues. So my message in there was quite strong: It's one of co-operation and it's important to put a united front and solidarity for the people of Canada to be working together to get through this. If we're divided in that room, then that's going to destroy confidence in the Canadian public ...

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Now, here's an interesting little conspiracy theory advanced to me this afternoon by a smart and enthusiastic Hill staffer: The Conservatives may be interested in seeing anyone -- even another Liberal - take the Speaker's job, so long as it's not Liberal Peter Milliken. Here's why...

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