Federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff supported the Harper government’s budget with the condition that the Conservatives provide regular updates, and Alberta’s only opposition member says the Liberals are turning their backs on the coalition agreement.

Linda Duncan, MP for Edmonton-Strathcona, characterized the budget as “tinkering at the edges” and “completely opposite to what they are doing south of the border.”

Although the Conservatives used green language in the budget, they clearly do not understand environmental principles, and have failed to support a transition to a competitive green economy, she says. Instead of injecting cash directly into wind or solar power, the Conservatives are supporting carbon capture and nuclear energy.

“This is not a new green economy agenda,” she says. “If people look at this briefly, they will be fooled.”

But political scientist Keith Brownsey, a professor with Mount Royal College in Calgary, rejected the suggestion that it was ideologically driven, and considered the budget entirely practical. He thought it was such a departure from the usual politics of Stephen Harper, that he jokingly suggested someone had kidnapped the prime minister.

“I think the whole budget was a surprise,” he says. “This was not a Conservative budget.... There was nothing mean in it. There was no getting back at adversaries. There was no regional bitterness against Ontario or Quebec. It was a remarkable document, very pragmatic.”

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty even worked in a rainy-day fund that was directly out of former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin’s playbook, Brownsey says.

Despite the sabre rattling in calling the budget a “close-call,” Brownsey says Ignatieff had little choice but to support the budget, because he’s not ready for an election. 

He expects Ignatieff will support the Conservatives for at least a couple months, before resuming their attacks.

And that will suit Albertans just fine, he says, because no one was looking forward to a February election.

But the NDP still feels left out. According to their calculations, the vast majority of money in the budget will go towards corporations, and not individual Canadians. The $8.3 billion over two years in additional funding for skills training and transitions, including money for Employment Insurance, was insufficient without changes to the way the program works, they say. The $2 billion set aside for social housing was also considered far too little. Childcare was not even mentioned.

That’s certainly not how Edmonton-area Conservative James Rajotte sees his party’s budget. He points out that the Conservatives increased the amount Canadians in the lowest two income brackets can earn before they are taxed at a higher rate. “These tax cuts benefit all Canadians,” he says. “But I think have the greatest benefit for low-income Canadians.”

Besides these traditionally Conservative measures, the party made an effort to reach out to the opposition parties, and include their concerns in the budget, including infrastructure spending, he says. The Conservatives have committed $12 billion nation-wide for building and repairing roads, sewers, homes and other projects. He hopes the municipality and province will take advantage of that federal money, and bring their portions of the funding forward quickly. In his own riding of Edmonton-Leduc, he looks forward to the extension of the LRT to Heritage station and the south side park and ride.