Canadians expecting much from conservative leaders.

• Author: Kranc, Joel
• Position: GLOBAL GLANCE

In 2006, Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, took the reins as Prime Minister and formed a minority government, marking the first time since 1993 that a Conservative government ruled in Canada. Yet the party's minority status produced a patchwork of policies, early elections and parliamentary gridlock that both frustrated and annoyed most Canadians.

This past May, Harper's Conservatives took a majority for the first time in its mandate and has initiated policies and legislative agendas that were perhaps unattainable prior to the most recent election. Though early, the government is already signaling its intensions on where it would like to move on economic and business issues.

In early spring, Harper and his Finance Minister Jim Flaherty ended a two-year stimulus program that was implemented at the height of the great recession. The stimulus was deemed a necessary evil around the globe and, in Canada's case, was made doubly difficult by the fact that a minority Parliament had to navigate the greatest economic recession in a generation.

Under the new majority regime, a target to cut the deficit by 2014 and reduce spending by $4 billion per year to meet that goal was announced. During a recent trade mission in South America, Harper said: "It continues to be our view that the Canadian economy will grow; it will grow gradually and slowly, along with the world recovery. As long as those remain the circumstances, the policy mix of the government of Canada is the appropriate one."

However, global economic fears and the uncertainty of how the U.S.--Canada's largest trading partner--will fare once again loom large.

Will Government Policies Help or Hinder Business?

How will a majority Conservative Par I lament shape the business environment and is there support for its policies? Although Harper need not look over his shoulder at a possible early election, will the state of affairs under his stewardship help or hinder businesses?

* First, the Bad News. It is difficult to discuss the government of the day without political lines coming into focus, and there is no lack of opposition to some of the government's handling of current issues.

Scott Brison is the Liberal Member of Parliament for Kings-Hants in Nova Scotia and currently serves as the Liberal Party Critic for Finance and National Revenue. Cutting spending is part of his thinking, but he and his party would like to see it done in a more surgical way. "It's good to hear...