[LINK] "Opposition leaders chastise PM Harper over budget deficit leak"

[rfmcdonald]

Opposition leaders are unhappy that the first they learned of the Canadian federal government's impending budget deficit was not in Parliament, but through leaks to the Canadian press (the conservative National Post, to be specific).

TORONTO — It was "irresponsible" and "absolutely inappropriate" for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to allow the release of details on the size of the federal deficit that will be contained in Tuesday's budget, the Liberal and New Democrat leaders charged Friday.

A senior Conservative official said Thursday the Harper government will run a deficit of $34 billion this year and $30 billion next year.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said the government obviously wanted to get the bad news out of the way before the budget.

"I asked Mr. Harper not to play games like that," Ignatieff told a Toronto business audience.

"He just can't help himself. He thinks it is all just some kind of game."

NDP Leader Jack Layton suggested the leak of the deficit figure was a sign Harper is worried about being defeated by a coalition of Liberals and New Democrats supported by the Bloc Quebecois.

"It's the sort of manoeuvre one does when you're afraid of losing your job. It's absolutely inappropriate," Layton told a Toronto audience.

"I can remember when Mr. Harper himself would attack any government that allowed any leak of budget information ahead of a budget. So he's once again doing something that he himself has opposed in the past."

Ignatieff agreed leaking the deficit figures was political positioning by the prime minister, and said it was "at the edge of violating" budget secrecy.

"It could have market impact, and I'm a traditionalist about these things," he said. "I don't think you let the numbers out before you've read the budget in the House of Commons.

"(Harper) is still playing games and those games have got to stop."

By way of comparison, Canada's GDP--measured in Canadian dollars--is some 1.64 trillion dollars measured at current prices.

So far, Ignatieff has been trying to place the Conservative minority government on a tight leash by keeping active the possibility of a Liberal-NDP coalition government, fitting his stated preference that there not necessarily be a coalition, but that there could be a coalition if necessary. Conservative Party stunts like this could make the coalition government necessary in his eyes.