The Conservative government tabled their 5th budget since taking power. This one was no different than the previous ones. It lacked vision and forward looking ambition.

During their reign, the Conservatives have proven that they are incapable of thinking big and that they have a narrow understanding of what the role of the government is. Their focus for five years has been on short-term transactions that any care-taker could deliver instead of formulating major goals. They have preferred to set a low bar of expectation and offered little to capture the imagination of Canadians.

Canadians understand that their government isn’t able to fix all problems. They know that there is no such things as a magic wand that would eliminate difficulties overnight. They also don’t expect “entitlements” or giveaways.

What Canadians expect and deserve is a government that is able to articulate their aspirations and dreams and deliver on them. That the reason why citizens pay taxes. It is because there is a collective understanding that when we pool our resources together we are able to accomplish much more than if we acted individually. However, when the government chooses to abandon its responsibilities to address major issues, Canadians are bound to wonder if they are getting their value out of their government.

This budget, like the previous ones, neglected to tackle the major themes our country is facing. Issues such as healthcare, infrastructure, environment, governance, poverty, education, jobs of the future, pension reforms among many others appear to have been slighted by this budget. This budget is timid and I don’t mean that it’s small. It actually projects another $54 billion deficit after the $56 billion for this year.

For example, the infrastructure spending that is included in the stimulus package in this budget was dedicated to small refurbishment projects instead of aiming to build new and much needed modern infrastructure that our country needs.

This budget is a disappointment especially at a time when Canadians need their government the most. What is even more unfortunate is the fact that the Conservatives promised Canadians a “recalibrated” government agenda as an excuse for shutting down parliament for 3 months. It’s difficult to reconcile what this budget delivered with what the Conservatives claimed was needed for shutting down parliament.

Canadians are entitled to be severely disappointed with this budget. The Conservatives appear like a tired government that has run out of steam.

The dryness of this budget is making me thirsty for new ideas.