Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tries on his budget shoes after having them resoled in Ottawa.
Shoes bought? Check. Numbers crunched, re-crunched and re-re-crunched? Check. NDP demands met? Not so sure. It remains to be seen whether Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's delivery of the federal budget later today will meet the demands of Jack Layton, who is emerging as the kingmaker of the 40th Parliament. When it comes to B-day, Globe Politics has got you covered. Stay tuned for a special edition of the newsletter later this afternoon and then follow globeandmail.com for breaking news, updates, analysis and commentary.
Now, one would figure tabling a federal budget would trump budgets of the provincial variety. In New Brunswick, however, two hours before the federal budget is announced, New Brunswick Finance Minister Blaine Higgs is slated to table his budget. Was that intentional planning on Mr. Higgs' part? Pity New Brunswickers who have to figure out the combined effects of two budgets on their lives.
Ontario's popular Green Energy supporter - Premier Dalton McGuinty - speaks to a conference on the politics of … wait for it … water. If for any reason this conference gets out of hand, rest assured that the panel's moderator - one Jean Chrétien - will use whatever muscle power he has these days to keep the conference in line. Speaking of things green, the inaugural International Greenbelts Conference, a gathering of experts from greenbelts across the world, also takes place today in Toronto. Will Mr. McGuinty show up here too?