Duncan's a crafty rascal

Oh my, but he's wily, is Dwight Duncan.

The genial, roly-poly finance minister from Windsor picked his way carefully through a field full of political cow flaps yesterday, and came through it smiling.

He managed to bury last year's surplus with a bonanza of in-year spending, while still pretending he was "prudent." Yet he provided little significant relief to areas of the economy that are hurting most.

And he managed to give a swift kick in the shins to his federal counterpart, Jim Flaherty, suggesting Flaherty may be flexing his muscles for a takeover of Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory's job.

In his best "Yes, Minister" manner, Duncan said he'd never suggest Flaherty had aspirations to lead the Ontario party. He has never suggested it. But he did.

You can just guess what kind of cat that put among the Tory pigeons.

It was welcome comic relief in a day when you knew Duncan was just whistling past the graveyard. With an ailing economy south of the border, you can't help thinking Duncan must be envying his predecessor Greg Sorbara's good fortune to be in charge of the province's finances when the good times rolled. (This is Duncan's second budget. He delivered one when Sorbara was out of the cabinet.)

As Energy minister, Duncan liked to dine on $70 steaks. So what does he get to dish out? Chopped liver.

Northern Ontario, where the pulp and paper and forestry industries are in dire straits, got only a $70 million boost. There was a cut in the Business Education Tax and a cut in stumpage fees.

Meanwhile, it turns out this year the government managed to squander $4.8 billion on "in-year expense changes." Ooops. Make that an in-year surplus that got sent out the door in a flurry of spending.

"I say it's madness to rush money out the door like that in two or three weeks," said Tory of the spending spree.

The bonanza is the reason why the Liberals pledged a portion of future surpluses would go to municipal infrastructure instead of paying down the debt.

Meanwhile, Premier Dalton McGuinty said recently that there will be no change in the hated health-care premium the Liberals introduced in their first budget -- despite the fact it clearly raised more money than they need.

Duncan dismissed questions about the health premium by pointing out that for the first time ever, health costs topped the $40- billion mark. That's not the point. They were still shovelling money out the door before the end of the fiscal year. In some ways, though, this budget is eerily reminiscent of former NDP premier Bob Rae's first budget, where he hiked social assistance rates right before a recession.

New Democratic Leader Howard Hampton had words of caution for Duncan as he recalled those days.

"As the unemployment rolls go up, municipalities are going to be hit with a huge Ontario Works bill," he said.

He said the $1.5 billion earmarked for job retraining would help only 20,000 of the province's 200,000 unemployed workers.

Look, the $1 billion Duncan has pledged to infrastructure is a good thing. Our roads, bridges, transit and the other vital underpinnings need renewal. But last week, the government announced a 25% Ontario-built content for that new transit infrastructure. So how is that going to help get people in beleaguered cities like Thunder Bay and Windsor back to work?

And Duncan couldn't resist another tweak for Flaherty in his budget speech. He called for more cash to deal with the manufacturing sector, Employment Insurance and infrastructure.

And he called for "partnerships."

"Ontarians expect the federal government to be a full partner in responding to today's challenges and building tomorrow's prosperity," Duncan said.

Now there's an idea. Wouldn't it be nice if our two finance ministers stopped head-butting each other and started using the brains inside those thick skulls instead?

Sorbara had no trouble balancing the books when the good times rolled. Heck, they had almost $5 billion in "in-year expense changes" to show for it this year.

If the economy takes a nose-dive, watch for a tightrope act next year.