Ignatieff Supports Harper's Budget

January 29, 2009 12:15 p.m. EST

Ottawa, Ontario (AHN) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's political worries are over after Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff supported on Wednesday the Conservative Party's budget presented to the Parliament on Tuesday.

Ignatieff's only condition for backing Harper's budget is for the prime minister to release regular economic status reports. With Ignatieff's move, the opposition's plan to take over the minority Conservative government through a confidence vote has been set aside.

With this development, the Liberal's partners in the oust Harper move, the NDP and Bloc Quebecois, declared the coalition dead.

Ignatieff said in a new conference the budget Harper presented was flawed since it did not provide sufficient protection to laid off workers by liberalizing employment insurance policies. But he said since the opposition wangled vital concessions like social housing, skills training and education, he threw his support to the budget.

Ignatieff asked that Harper provide fiscal reports thrice this year, in late March, June and December as the Liberal Party's method of placing the Tories on probation.

He explained, "Canadians don't want another election and they're tired of political games. They have waited too long for action on the economy for us to fail them now because of partisan interest."

The budget includes a $35 billion economic stimulus package which would result to two years of deficit spending on infrastructure projects.

Another unlikely supporter of the budget is Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who called it a windfall for the province which once was the richest in Canada. Under the budget, financially ailing Ontario would receive $17 billion to $19 billion to boost the province's economy for the next two years.