A Conservative government budget promise to give a tax break to prairie farmers forced to sell breeding stock because of flood or drought is on its way into law.
It was included in a budget bill approved overwhelmingly by the House of Commons Sept. 18, giving the minority Conservative government at least a limited reprieve from the prospect of defeat and a fall election campaign.
The budget bill also will authorize the home renovation tax credit included in the government’s stimulus package. It now goes to the Senate where quick approval is expected.
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The government survived the confidence vote on a budget measure because Bloc Québécois and New Democratic Party MPs voted for it, deeming the tax measures to be beneficial to Canadians hit hard by recession.
The Liberals voted against the measures while insisting they support them and would reintroduce them as government. They were voting non-confidence in the government, said Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.
Critics said they will be reminding voters that the Liberals opposed voter-friendly tax breaks in their quest to topple the government and return to power.
The NDP, after bragging that through 79 confidence votes it had voted against the Conservatives every time, said it would now support them as long as improvements to the Employment Insurance program introduced last week remain before Parliament.
Since NDP support would prop up the minority government, an expected autumn vote now may be avoided until spring, depending on House of Commons dynamics, Conservative tactics and the NDP stomach for absorbing taunts for supporting a government it has argued is hurting Canadian interests.
The bill, once approved by the Senate, would let farmers defer income tax payments on those forced sales until the year after the weather emergency ends.
