MONTREAL - The Liberal Party of Canada promises that -- if elected -- it will not reduce transfer payments to the provinces to eliminate the federal deficit.
The promise follows an identical one from the Conservatives and comes in response to a request from the Quebec government for clarity on the matter.
The Liberals' finance critic said there would be no repeat of the 1990s -- when the party under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin massively slashed transfers to the provinces.
That gambit helped turn around the nation's finances but created problems in schools and hospitals from coast to coast.
Liberal finance critic John McCallum now suggests the severity of those cuts may have been a mistake.
"We will absolutely not reduce transfer payments to the provinces," McCallum told The Canadian Press.
"It's true that this is something we have done in the past -- but we have learned from our mistakes."
In fact, he says, the Harper government also has a blemished record after killing off billions in transfers for provincial day-care programs proposed by the Liberals, as well as reducing culture funding and money for aboriginals, some of which would have gone to provincial infrastructure.
The Harper government has also showered billions on the provinces to address the federal-provincial fiscal imbalance it claims to have inherited upon taking office.
Quebec's finance minister demanded Thursday to hear the Liberals' view on provincial transfer.
Raymond Bachand said he didn't want to see a repeat of the 1990s -- when federal cuts caused bitter clashes between the provinces and public-sector workers, strikes, crowded hospitals, and poorer schools.
He said he liked what he heard from the Harper government on that front, and wanted to hear a similar commitment from the Liberals.
"It's clear that there's one thing the Government of Canada cannot do: that's to touch federal transfers," Bachand told reporters.
"We recently heard (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper say he wouldn't touch federal transfers to rebalance the budget in Canada. . . I'm certainly expecting the Liberal Party of Canada to make the same guarantee."
He made the remarks after Ignatieff promised to balance the federal books without raising taxes. Such a promise leaves only two other options to erase the deficit: rely on long-term economic growth to boost federal revenues, or cut spending.
The projected federal deficit has risen exponentially this year, and is now expected to eclipse the $50 billion mark.
The Harper government began the year denying a deficit was imminent.
Bachand points to that sudden turnaround as proof that, to balance the books, draconian cuts to provincial transfers are not necessary.
"It's doable," Bachand said.
"The Government of Canada had a balanced budget before the recession, so it's got the means to ride out the recession. It'll take a bit of time, because revenues have dropped everywhere. Even when the economic rebound happens, revenue levels won't get back to the same place. But if we were there before (with balanced books), it's doable again in the future."
Quebec forecasts a deficit of about $4 billion this year.
During a trip to Quebec last week, Harper declared: "This Conservative government will never cut transfers to the provinces like the former Liberal government did."
