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The Week with Mark Sutcliffe
February 16, 2014
This Sunday, Mark welcomes Althia Raj, Ottawa Bureau Chief for The Huffington Post, and Paul Wells, author and Political Editor for Maclean’s. Viewers are also invited to share their thoughts about the week’s political stories: DIVISION OVER INCOME SPLITTING A rift erupts in the Conservative caucus over a 2011 election promise to expand income splitting to families, once there’s a balanced budget. The finance minister this week expressed reservations about its benefits. But the employment minister insisted that the promise would be kept, as did other Tory MPs. The prime minister said the government will have that discussion when the books are balanced. How serious is the division over this issue in the Conservative party? Should the government deliver what it promised? Or is the finance minister right to suggest we need more analysis? BUDGET REACTION The Opposition says this week's budget was a set-up for next year's election. Public service unions are upset over planned benefit cuts. Some provinces are angry over the way the government is handling job training and equalization payments. Is the government taking the right approach on all these issues, as well as the deficit? And how does this budget set the stage for the 2015 election campaign? ELECTIONS ACT CONTROVERSY The Conservatives accused the chief electoral officer of political activism for criticizing proposed reforms to election laws. Meanwhile, the NDP blocked travel by all parliamentary committees, in a tactical move to try and force the government to hold hearings across Canada into the Fair Elections Act. Is it right for Marc Mayrand to speak out? Is the Fair Elections Act being debated enough?