Harper's budget reveals much

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government revealed a series of government cuts designed to save $1 billion. It was announced that these savings will come from a reduction or elimination of programmes found to be wasteful, inefficient, better done by non-government agencies, or represented poor value for money.

Much is being made of the $4 million cut for research to medical marijuana, but the government's rationale, "We don't want to tell researches what they should be looking into" coupled with cuts to policy research, foreign policy research, and industrial technology research, creates an image of a government that does not have a research vision. To depend on private industry for research skews research to commerical interests. University research is often too underfunded or subject to too many personal whims. Only the federal government can set a national research agenda on something like climate change. Where would the American's be today without Kennedy's nebulous declaration that the US would set foot on the moon by the end of the decade.

Similarly, for all his talk of supporting children with his childcare and tax-based sports incentives, cuts to youth employment programmes, international internship programs, and the equality-driven legal reforms, his commitment to youth issues is somewhat questionable. In the same manner, the elimination of the visitor GST rebate, consolidation of various missions, reduction of monies for foreign affairs policy research, combine with the elimination of the international internships signal a slight retraction from international affairs.

These are just a few of the images the Harper's budget announcement reveals. Have a look for yourself.