OTTAWA - The budget that was dead on arrival is getting a second life.
When Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tables his second federal budget for the fiscal year -- likely this month -- he will have the kind of freedom he hasn't enjoyed since he handled the duties for Mike Harris in Ontario.
The Conservatives can now pass any measures they like without having to worry about what the opposition parties think. But sources say the first budget of the majority era will be almost identical to the last budget of the minority days.
That's pretty much what Flaherty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised during the election campaign, and officials say success hasn't changed their minds.
Even some of the measures that looked like compromises to buy NDP support, such as bringing back the home retrofit program and boosting old age security, will find a place in Budget 2011-12: The Sequel.
There may be so few changes that officials still haven't determined whether a media lock-up will be necessary.
Harper wasn't saying much Thursday, other than that he will reveal details next week about plans for a new cabinet and the next session of Parliament.
He wore an ear-to-ear grin as he strolled through downtown Ottawa to Conservative party offices to thank staff for helping him win a majority. He was still clearly jubilant from Monday's victory, saying he and staffers are "still ecstatic."
There's speculation Parliament will resume this month, starting with the election of a Speaker, followed by a throne speech and introduction of a new budget.
For Canadians with short memories, the first Flaherty budget was tabled on March 22 under the heading: "A Low-Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth."
Most analysts read it as a stand-pat offering that sprinkled fairy dust far and wide, but in light enough layers to obscure the fact that it was the most frugal of Flaherty's six budgets.
There was a small $75 art-class tax credit, up to $300 for caregivers, some money for student loans, even help for volunteer firefighters. The big items were a $400-million environmentally friendly home retro-fit program, and $300 million to boost income for poor seniors.
The most significant part of the blueprint was what wasn't listed. It put an abrupt end to billions in economy-boosting stimulus spending, and maintained the schedule of corporate tax cuts that will see the rate drop to a low 15 per cent in January.
Many eonomists loved it because it signalled Ottawa's deficit would be eliminated in five years. Opposition parties hated it because it didn't raise corporate tax cuts and transfer the money to working Canadians.
The opposition will likely hate the sequel, and aren't holding their breath in expectation for meaningful changes from the original.
"Stephen Harper didn't engage in consultations with opposition parties in a minority so I don't expect him to engage now," said Scott Brison, the Liberal finance critic in the last Parliament.
If anything, Brison added, "there might be a few stink bombs in it for good measure."
One such measure would be introduction of legislation to end public financing of political parties based on the votes they received in the last election. The opposition parties are far more dependent on the public financing than the Tories and it was part of the Conservative platform.
Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas noted the prime minister promised to phase out the per-vote subsidy over three years, "and we have four years to do that." He would not say when the transition period would begin.
Soudas and other government sources say the budget will come back virtually intact.
There will need to be some alterations. The economic growth forecast for this year, listed at 2.9 per cent, may need to be adjusted downward somewhat given rising energy prices, a slower growth profile in the U.S., and the devastation from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
The government also plans to give more details on a little-noticed item in the last budget listed as the "strategic and operating review," which the prime minister said in the campaign would save the government $4 billion a year.
Those savings were not accounted for in the March deficit projections, but will in the new budget and will be used to fulfil -- on paper at least -- another Harper campaign promise to eliminate the deficit one year earlier, in 2014-15.
"They were so close that I think that is readily doable to get it balanced one year earlier," said Bank of Montreal economist Douglas Porter.
In the March document, Ottawa's deficit for 2014-15 was projected at a mere $500 million, a rounding error in the $279-billion budget.
Officials also believe Ottawa will revise last year's fiscal deficit, listed at $40.4 billion, to something more modest given that revenues and expenditures have been coming in higher and lower than expected respectively.
Officials say the changes may be done by simply inserting a section in the budget book.
