PM says income splitting ‘good policy’ despite his finance minister’s misgivings

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper is hinting that the key Conservative campaign plank from the 2011 federal election that earned him a majority may not be pitched overboard after all.

Income-splitting for couples with children under 18 was a multi-billion-dollar pledge during the last election — a Conservative promise that would kick in as soon as the government balanced the federal budget.

But Finance Minister Jim Flaherty began publicly questioning the policy even before his Feb. 11 budget that effectively balanced the books this year and projected a surplus for 2015.

Harper refused to repeat his 2011 income-splitting pledge after budget day, and government sources spread word that the prime minister and his finance minister were of one mind on the matter.

However, following a weeklong break in the House of Commons schedule, Harper now says that income-splitting for seniors has been a good policy, and that it will also be a good policy for Canadian families.

The prime minister made the comments in French in response to questions about abandoned election promises from Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, but Harper did not repeat the remark in English.

A number of Conservative MPs — including some high-profile cabinet ministers — appeared to be caught flat-footed when Flaherty questioned the soundness of income-splitting as a policy, and there was some grumbling about how Conservative voters would react to any policy shift.

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