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Flaherty was clearly "posturing" with his demands that Ontario slash corporate taxes, right up until the day before the budget came down, said McMaster University political science professor Henry Jacek.
The real aim was for Ottawa to be able to blame the province if the economy goes into a tailspin and the minority Conservative government faces an election, Jacek said.
"Flaherty's very clear communications strategy is to try and lift that blame off of the federal government and try to take (voters') minds off what he didn't do for Ontario in the federal budget," Jacek said.
"He wants to essentially avoid any blame for any problems that occur in Ontario in terms of public services or economic recession, and I think basically that's what it's all about, this blame avoidance."
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http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hohFUDopSQJC40or0sEbcSJ0JHDg