Canada

I just wish they wouldn't attack the Liberals to strongly on that issue. It'll seem hypocritical if they cannot balance the budget down the road and they will lose credibility IMO.

No, I don't think simply by raising the corporate tax rate they can balance the budget. See, yes, investments in education and infrastructure etc will pay dividends in the future - and that's the problem..."in the future". There will have to be money upfront first before we see any benefit. I don't think a corporate tax rate increase and a re-arrangement of the budget will cover the investments plus the social programs and the affordable day care. MHO of course, I don't have any hard numbers in front of me or anything.

And they wouldn't have to come out saying they'd run deficits - they could say something like "we understand Canadians work hard for their money and we won't be spending it recklessly, we want to avoid deficits if possible but sometimes investments in our future will require a down payment up front and if Stephen Harper's recession hasn't ended by the time we implement our plan, then we cannot rule out the possibility of a slight deficit."

At any rate, those who are leery of the NDP because of the fear of deficits still won't believe their sudden about-face, so denying there will be one seems disingenuous to them. I really don't think there was a reason for them to go so far over the other way. It's my one big beef with the NDP's campaign, in case you couldn't tell.