Finance ministers nearly always save a surprise for budget day, what media folks unfailingly refer to as a "goodie," intended to give Canadians something to remember from a document that's otherwise dedicated to producing a whole lot of numbers.
Joe Oliver will be no exception on Tuesday when he tables his first budget, the Conservatives' last before the scheduled fall election.
The government has already announced its modified version of income-splitting for families with children 17 and under. And the first cheques will be mailed out this summer under a richer, expanded Universal Child Care Benefit.
Total cost to the treasury? About $4.5 billion a year.
Oliver has also promised, repeatedly, that this budget will be balanced.
Plus he is bringing in legislation to require future budgets to be balanced except in exceptional circumstances, such as the kind of global recession that prevented the Conservatives from balancing the books for the past seven years.
Budget 2015 will be the foundation for whatever campaign platform Stephen Harper puts before voters to convince them that four more years of Conservative rule is in both their best interests.
Government insiders suggest the budget could include money to address climate change issues, to encourage companies in the non-energy sector to hire new employees, or to address barriers to First Nations development.
