OTTAWA - The annual minority-government pre-budget mating ritual is in full swing, with opposition parties fanning their fiscal tail feathers as Stephen Harper plays hard to get.
The prime minister reacted coolly Thursday to the various conditions opposition parties have laid down for averting an election over the coming federal budget.
Harper said he's prepared to "listen carefully" to opposition proposals for the budget, expected in late February or early March.
But he doubted the government will ever be able to satisfy the opposition parties, given what he described as their inconsistent budget priorities.
"I'm always willing to listen to the opposition parties but some days it's kind of a moving target," Harper said during a news conference in Toronto.
Harper has insisted he doesn't want an election and won't use the budget to try to provoke one. But he'll need the support of at least one opposition party to avoid defeat of the budget, which would topple his minority government.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has effectively stricken himself off Harper's dance card. He's set out budget demands designed to highlight the contrast between Liberal and Tory priorities, not to find common ground.
Ignatieff has frankly acknowledged there's little chance Harper will agree to roll back corporate tax cuts, cancel plans to purchase stealth fighter jets and to expand prisons, and then pour the savings into child care, family care and retirement security.
As predicted, Harper made it clear Thursday he won't back off corporate tax reduction, which he noted the Liberals used to support.
"I think it is very obvious to everybody who is looking at the relative success of the Canadian economy in a challenged global environment that the way to keep this economy growing is to keep taxes down for businesses and consumers," he said. "And that's what this government is committed to doing."
Ignatieff's hard line is not so much evidence that Liberals are spoiling for an election as it is a signal that Liberals won't automatically prop up the Harper government anymore, as they've done for much of the last five years. They want to shift that morale-sapping burden onto the NDP or Bloc Quebecois.
For his part, Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe has said his support for the budget is contingent on Quebec getting $2 billion in compensation for harmonizing its provincial sales tax with the federal goods and services tax. Even then, he's said the Bloc might not endorse the budget.
The Harper government has been negotiating just such a deal with Quebec for the last few months but federal officials are doubtful an agreement can be sealed in time for the budget.
"Progress is being made but there's still a lot of work to do," said Chisholm Pothier, spokesman for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
So far, NDP Leader Jack Layton has been making the most conciliatory noises, saying "with a little co-operation we can get it done."
He's proposed a modest expansion of Canada Pension Plan and an increase in Guaranteed Income Supplement benefits, elimination of the GST on home-heating fuel and return of the home-retrofit tax credit.
Harper didn't rule out any of those proposals Thursday but he accused Layton, as well as Ignatieff, of being inconsistent. He noted that the NDP voted against the two-percentage-point reduction in the GST and the original home-retrofit program.
Despite Harper's dismissive tone, New Democrat insiders say some of Layton's proposals could mesh neatly with the government's agenda.
For instance, Flaherty was also championing a modest expansion of the CPP until a few weeks ago, when opposition from Alberta and Quebec forced him to back away for the time being.
However, under the Constitution, expanding the CPP couldn't be done in a budget; it needs significant provincial support. Hence, the most Layton could hope for in the budget is some sort of renewed commitment to work with the provinces on the matter.
As for the Guaranteed Income Supplement, the government may simply not be able to afford the 15 per cent increase advocated by the NDP and organized labour to lift all seniors above the poverty line. Such a move would cost about $880 million a year -- not chump change for a government trying to balance the budget.
Still, New Democrats note that Harper didn't say a flat "No" to any of Layton's proposals.
"What I heard today was not a dismissal," said one NDP insider.
But being non-committal is all part of the pre-budget ritual for the government.
"This is the process before the budget," said Pothier. "We get suggestions and recommendations from a variety of sources, including all the opposition parties. All of those are considered as we prepare the budget but we don't comment on any of them before the budget."
Should the government be defeated over its budget, Harper reiterated Thursday that he'll campaign in the election to get rid of the $2-per-vote subsidy for political parties -- a move that could financially cripple rival parties that rely more heavily on the public subsidy than the Tories.
"We don't support it, we never have," Harper said.
"There are already generous credits and incentives in law in the tax system to encourage people to give to political parties today. I think when you have a particular subsidy that the parties make no effort whatsoever to gain money, to raise their own money and they get the subsidy anyway, I don't think that's justifiable."
The last time Harper floated the idea, in the 2008 fall economic update, he triggered a political crisis that almost resulted in the replacement of his newly elected government by an opposition coalition.
