I write, today, from Room 253-D of the Centre Block of the House of Commons, where the House of Commons Standing Committee began hearings on the budget legislation at 10 a.m. this morning and now, at 0940 pm, is 20 minutes away from wrapping up. The highlight was the hour Finance Minister Jim Flaherty spent in front of the committee this afternoon:

As stock markets in the U.S. drooped to levels not seen in a decade and Canadian markets hit another low, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty pressed MPs to quickly pass his budget legislation which will spring billions of dollars in tax relief and spending aimed at helping Canada's economy.

But after delivering that message to the House of Commons finance committee, Flaherty told reporters that the most urgent problem for the world's governments is the global financial crisis, a crisis which Canada can do little about . . .

"Everybody on this side of the House wants these (budget) measures to be passed rapidly," Ignatieff said. "The question is whether the situation is changing in such a way that the minister already has additional measures in view."

The NDP, however, continues to object to the budget, saying it sets back progress on pay equity and contains insufficient help for the unemployed.

The Commons finance committee heard from several witnesses who urged MPs to vote against passing the budget.

"I think this budget should be voted down," said Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, saying it contains inadequate economic stimulus and does nothing to help those losing jobs. "The victims of this crisis are being ignored. Women and the unemployed are being ignored in favour of fancy tax cuts that are going to do nothing in the short term."

Barb Byers, a vice-president with the CLC, also attacked government plans to tinker with pay equity rules in the name of efficiency and belt-tightening.

"It's a huge attack on women's economic equality," Byers told MPs, "and, I'll tell you, we feel the discrimination every time we take a paycheque home."

The Bloc Quebecois also objects to the budget saying that while there are billions for the largely Ontario-based auto sector, there is not enough help for the forestry sector, a major employer in Quebec's rural regions . . . [Read the whole story]