By James Havers, Sympatico / MSN Finance

How times have changed.

Federal Budgets were once very staid affairs, with the allure of the Finance Minister's new pair of shoes the only photo-op for journalists looking for an angle. That, and maybe an increase in the tax on a case of beer.

The Liberals' fundamental shift in the '90s away from deficit spending towards surpluses and debt-pay down drew a lot of attention, for a while anyway. But that became expected after a while, and hardly even newsworthy.

By Gordon Powers, Sympatico / MSN Finance

After closing Parliament’s doors to avoid almost certain defeat, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is doing his level best to avoid another confrontation with the opposition parties. With the NDP and Bloc Quebecois expected to vote against Tuesday's budget, and the Liberals sitting on the fence until at least Wednesday, his ministers have been given leave to officially ‘leak’ big chunks of the Tory plan.

After weekend announcements of at least $1.5-billion in new training funds for laid-off workers, and a further $2-billion in budget cash to build and refurbish public housing units, it was Transport Minister John Baird who got to hand out the goodies this morning.

By Gordon Powers, Sympatico / MSN Finance

The Conservative budget scheduled to be tabled next Tuesday is probably going to disappoint a lot of people – and not all of them live in Windsor. 

First off, is it even going to pass? I’d say yes. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is preparing his party for a real election, not another no-confidence showdown. But he won’t go away without a fight.