As I Suspected...

The budget doesn't have as much to do with the reality of the CPC government's plans as it should.

Massive Defense Spending Planned. So, let's see if I understand this - the budget delivered 1/5 of what the Conservatives claimed they were going to do for the military in terms of both capital and operational spending, but the Minister of Defence is running around planning billions of expenditures that aren't currently on the budget books? Uh huh. I'd put pretty good odds that as things "heat up" (pardon the pun) in the Middle East (especially Iran), there will be a sudden redirection of funds that will happen as Order in Council sometime this summer. At the same time, this concept will no doubt receive a bit of black budget funding.

Don't make the mistake of assuming that I'm not in favour of upgrading our troops equipment, and (to some extent) increasing the manpower of our forces. I am. I am not, however, in favour of the government going about doing these things behind closed doors.

Also on CBC radio this morning (I'm watching to see which news website picks this up first), was indications that the "get tough on crime" bills are due to hit the House of Commons in the next few days. Again, the Conservatives are "starting to look at" the additional prison space that these bills are going to require. Yet again, this is another area where the budget didn't put a lot aside for this area. Meaning that it will have to wait until either the next budget bill comes down, or funding will be done again as "Order in Council".

Anyone with a modicum of awareness of what goes on in "Ralph's World" (Alberta), will recognize this as a basic tactic in the arsenal of those who lust after power, but really don't want the accountability of governing openly.

[Update 16:47 04/05/06]Here's the link to the new Get Tough on Crime bills introduced today.

It's the usual conservative response to such issues - lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key.

[End Update]