Donald Trump looms over budget 2017

In less than a week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government will unveil their second budget since taking power. But this time, the uncertainty of Canada's new neighbour casts a wide shadow.

A senior government source has said this budget will set the stage for what could effectively be a two-budget year, with a significant fall fiscal update that would be able to factor in the full implications of the coming U.S. budget.

"Of course that's looming large on the horizon, that Mr. Trump has promised to make massive tax cuts in the United States and of course we're all worried about what a comprehensive negotiation of NAFTA could look like, but we have to pull back and remember that we're in control of our own fiscal house" said interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose.

In the face of that, she says Canada needs to remain competitive. 

"We have already started to raise taxes and raise costs on families, on business, on people's savings. It feels like we;'re nickel and dimming people to pay for this spending... We can't control what Mr. Trump does, let's face it I don't think anyone can control what Mr. Trump does, but we can control what we do here in Canada."

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair also offered his pre-budget musings.

"It's not so much a question of deficit or not deficit, it's a question of what are you getting for that deficit? Are you getting something structural and long term that's going to benefit future generations? Or are you just dumping more debt?" he told the The House.

On Trump, Mulcair reiterated his belief that Canada needs to stand up to Trump, especially on human rights.

"There's a great saying from Churchill that an appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile hoping to be the person who is eaten last," he said.

Deal or no deal?

While Manitoba and Ottawa continue to fight it out over a new health funding deal, Premier Brian Pallister hopes those negotiations won't taint the Liberals' willingness to help the province handle an onslaught of asylum seekers coming across its borders. 

"That would be a most unfortunate linkage," he told CBC's The House guest-host Terry Milewski, while answering a question about whether holding out on health care could shoot himself in the foot on asylum seeker aid.

The prairie province remains the only jurisdiction that hasn't signed on to a new 10-year health accord. Pallister said the overall transfer increase being offered is not enough to keep up with the rising cost of health care and has continuously asked for more money to deal with health-care issues in indigenous communities.

At the same time, Pallister has been asking for an extension to the cost-sharing agreement between the province and the federal government for legal aid services which is set to expire at the end of the month.

"If people are going to try and negotiate us into a bad deal on health care, that gives up on trying to find benefits for Indigenous people that need primary care, by saying they're not going to help on a refugee case, let's look at each case on its own merits... I'm not banging a tin cup, I'm asking for fairness. We take in more refugees than any other province," Pallister said.

Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 21 this year, there were 290 illegal crossings in Quebec, 94 in Manitoba and 51 in British Columbia, totalling 435.

That compares with 2,464 illegal entries apprehended by the RCMP in the same regions in all of 2016.

"We're fortunate that someone has died… If people are hurt and die as a consequence of neglect we'll all wear that. I'm simply asking for a better partnership then has been evidence so far," he said.

Manitoba MP Jim Carr, the country's natural resources minister, wouldn't say if the legal aid money was secured, but said the government "will be there for the people when they need us."

"I believe the government of Canada is in a very position to respond as necessary," he said. 

In House panel: Conservative membership 

Justin Trudeau was in New York City this week to take in Come from Away, Broadway's newest musical about a small town Newfoundland that sheltered diverted passengers following the attacks of 9/11, but meanwhile another type of drama was unfolding back in Canada.

The Conservative Party of Canada has removed 1,351 names from its membership list after discovering they were purchased anonymously and inappropriately. 

The announcement from the party comes a day after reality TV star and Tory leadership candidate Kevin O'Leary alleged "widespread vote rigging" in the race to replace Stephen Harper as the next permanent leader of the Conservative Party.

Maclean's Ottawa bureau chief John Geddes said the leadership campaign was supposed to rejuvenate a party bouncing back from a loss of power in 2015.

"Instead this race has turned very rancorous, very acid. You have longtime Tories derisive of Kevin O'Leary, more than derisive about Kellie Leitch," he said.

"The party is holding its breath hoping the last couple of months doesn't turn out to be this kind of scorched earth kind of campaign." 

When it comes to that Broadway play Mia Rabson, Ottawa Bureau cheir for the Winnipeg Free Press, said Trudeau could risk looking too cozy to Donald Trump by inviting his daughter Ivanka to the show.

"I think Trudeau is walking a fine line here of being a little too chummy with someone most Canadians do not like," she said.