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Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff says Harper must compromise if he gets another minority
SAINT-JOHN, N.B. – Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff blasted his Conservative rival Wednesday for suggesting that there was no need to compromise on the federal budget tabled last month if the Tories were re-elected with a minority government.
Ignatieff indicated that he could not support a budget without seeing it, but expected that Harper should “put water in his wine” before trying to impose the same policies that the last Parliament opposed.
“What does he think he is – the king here?” Ignatieff asked at a news conference in a mall.
“Of course he has to put water in his wine. We all have to put water in our wine, provided you don’t sacrifice basic fiscal responsibility of the country, provided you don’t sacrifice basic principles.”
The Liberal leader has also previously said he would not support a Conservative budget, identical to the one rejected last month.
Ignatieff, who was appealing to disappointed Conservative voters to support his party in order to improve fiscal management of the country, said a minority Liberal government would work with other parties to ensure its budget could be accepted.
He said Harper only met with him a couple of times in the last Parliament but that things should change after the election, regardless of which party has the most seats.
“Welcome back to a new world after the May 2, were (Harper) to be in a minority government situation,” said Ignatieff. “He has an obligation to present a budget that has the confidence of the House of Commons and I have the same obligation”
The hypothetical questions about the budget took the spotlight away from a new letter, released by Ignatieff after a meet-and greet event with supporters at a local pub, challenging Harper to be more transparent about his plans for Canada’s healthcare system.
In the letter, Ignatieff urged Harper to retract previous criticism of Canada’s healthcare system and guarantee support for universal access to public healthcare services.
“Unlike you, I do not believe that public health care makes Canada ‘a second-tier socialistic country,’” said Ignatieff in the letter. “Furthermore, I believe that our system is not ‘killing people,’ as you have said, but is, in fact saving thousands of lives every year.”
He also accused Harper of showing “hostility” toward public healthcare by refusing to convene a federal-provincial summit on long-term funding.
Ignatieff has pledged to hold such a summit with premiers in the first two months of forming a government, noting that new strategies are needed to improve home care and drug insurance coverage.
“Quite simply, the $11 billion of unexplained cuts in your platform and your proposed spending spree on F-35 fighter jets, U.S.-style mega-prisons, corporate tax cuts, and income-splitting for the wealthy will ensure that there are not sufficient resources to sustain our health care system moving forward,” Ignatieff wrote.
“We believe this is a deliberate strategy on your part – to starve a system you have never believed in and never hesitated to attack and belittle.”
He also urged Harper to denounce a recent report released by a free-market think tank, the Fraser Institute, which called for the federal government to stop enforcing the Canada Health Act.
“I know you do not like answering questions,” he wrote. “But Canadians have a right to answers on this fundamental issue.”
“I believe that a Canadian prime minister should champion public health care, not deride it.”
He also urged Harper to consider Liberal proposals to reform and improve healthcare as well as their policies to improve overall Canadian health
Mdesouza@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/mikedesouza
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