By Armchair Mayor

ROTHENBURGER: All the noise in Ottawa drowns out substance of 2019 budget

Mar 20, 2019 | 7:36 AM

KAMLOOPS — IS THERE SOME SORT of contest going on in Ottawa over which party can make us more disgusted with politics?

There must be, judging by yesterday’s Kindergarten-level scrapping in the halls of power. On one side of the playroom, we have the Liberals, whose members of the Commons justice committee have taken their marbles and gone home, refusing to let Jody Wilson-Raybould return to talk to them a second time.

On the other are the sulking Conservatives, who one-upped the Liberals by spending much of the afternoon pounding desks and booing while Finance Minister Bill Morneau tried to deliver his budget speech.

Actually, he did deliver it; it’s just that nobody could hear it.

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And then the Conservatives, all self-righteous walked out. (To Jagmeet Singh’s credit, the NDP declined to participate in this circus.)

If the Tories had stuck around, they would have heard Morneau talk about some worthwhile measures in his 2019 budget: things like help for first-time home buyers, doubling of gas-tax transfers for municipal infrastructure projects, lowering the interest rate for the federal portion of Canada Student Loans and rebates on electric vehicles.

There were a few clunkers, like the promise to connect all Canadians to high-speed Internet by the year 2030. If I had a loonie for every time I’ve heard that one I’d have a good start on a TFSA.

And then there’s the grand promise of eliminating water-quality advisories on First Nations water systems in just two years. It’s certainly a worthy goal but the ridiculously short timeline suggests the Liberals have no idea about the extent of the problem.

But, hey, such details were pretty much lost in all the hooting and hollering and staged indignation yesterday. It was a total head-shaker.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.