Harper promises more money for port facilities in Montreal and Quebec City

Economic uncertainty, big-ticket promises and few details about where the money’s going to come from has the Conservatives, the Liberals and the NDP all flirting – for the moment – with the prospect of a budget deficit during their first year in power, a Canadian Press analysis of campaign commitments suggests.

Meanwhile, Federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau joined veterans in Belleville today to announce that as Prime Minister he would provide pensions for life for wounded armed forces retirees.

Many Canadians, no doubt, would enjoy a non-Harper Government, as the Conservatives have called it for a long period of time – even though it has always been and always will be the Government of Canada – governed by “we the people” rather than one guy in a suit and his political party of choice. He also accused the NDP leader of pushing “austerity” when economy is teetering.

And Canada has just recently been voted the best country in the world.

“We’ve been categorical. We will not be running a deficit”, he said during a campaign stop in London, Ont. “No, we will not be entertaining any thought of that”.

“Mr. Harper may not feel it from (the prime minister’s residence at) 24 Sussex Drive, but his plan is not working for millions upon millions of Canadians”.

“We all know that Mr. Mulcair doesn’t get it”, Trudeau added, quickly realizing he mixed up this line (or his opponents).

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper’s promise that if re-elected, a Conservative government will launch “Quebec Maritime Prosperity”, was like a “slap in the face” to the shipping industry, according to the president of Seafarers’ worldwide Union of Canada, James Given.

An NDP pledge to end income splitting won’t be enough to balance the budget, Tom Mulcair conceded Wednesday, though he would not talk about spending cuts.

“I don’t think there is a really strong argument, or any real argument, to be made that the budget must be in balanced no matter what the state of the economy is”, said Allan Maslove, an expert on government budgeting at Carleton University in Ottawa.

“They are sending signals out about their position on some big issues around women’s access, what does work count for, all these things that they have to be careful about anyway”, she said. “Everybody will get to see what the NDP plan is every step of the way”. Only 49% of respondents who chose Liberal in this poll and 33% of those who selected the Green Party say they are committed to those parties.

Alistair Taylor, group commissioner for the local chapter of Scouts Canada, First Willow Point Scouts (full disclosure, also the editor of this publication), confirmed his chapter was approached, and says they were misinformed as to what the children’s participation in the event would be.

Many economists have also argued that another year or two of small deficits is preferable to cutting spending when the economy is shrinking.

But Trudeau’s demand for specifics raises uncomfortable questions for Liberals, who themselves have not spelled out a plan to deal with the deficit beyond the fuzzy notion of growing the economy for the middle class.

However, Liberal MP and foreign affairs critic Marc Garneau pointed out that it is simply because Harper occupies the highest office in the country that his decisions have greater visibility than statements by other parties.