Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s federal budget handed down Monday looked a lot like an election budget, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we have to have one this spring, does it?

For one thing, this budget, with its tax credits for middle- and working-class families and $2.3 billion to address the so-called Quebec fiscal imbalance, is already an election budget — albeit the Quebec provincial election. Addressing the fiscal imbalance takes the wind out of separatists’ sails and makes Charest’s relationship with his Conservative buddy Harper look like the reason why. This budget also allows Harper’s Conservative minority government to move slowly toward the middle of the political spectrum and might allow it to gain votes in Quebec and Ontario, two places where the Conservatives must take more seats to accomplish Harper’s dream of a majority government.

He looks to have accomplished his first goal with the cash for Quebec. Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe has already declared his MPs will support the budget and allow its adoption, the second time in a year that Duceppe has simply gone along with the government on such an issue — who can forget Duceppe’s stunned reaction last fall when Harper trotted out his Quebecois nation gambit minutes before Duceppe was set to introduce just such a motion?

On the other hand, Harper, with his family-friendly tax initiatives and his more-centrist-every-day policies is making credibility inroads with soccer moms in Ontario and Quebec.

So why we would he want to shatter that goodwill he’s built by sending Canadians to the polls for the third time in four years? Here’s a better idea. Let Canadians live for a while with this budget and see how we like it. Then, next year, when Harper’s thirst for a majority is at its peak, give us some real tax cuts. You know, the kind we can visibly see on our paycheques, not some fancily-named tax credit we have to spend six months applying for. Besides, a minority government in Ottawa seems to be working, for the most part - and it’s something we might end up seeing on a provincial level this time next week. Look for a minority government to get installed in Quebec City with Jean Charest in charge and Mario Dumont’s ADQ holding the balance of power. Then, we might finally see some politically insightful moves coming out of the capital, as opposed to the trial-balloon-and-back-off technique Charest used to such failure during his first four years at the helm.

Checks and balances keep everyone honest — and honesty in politics is something we can all agree needs to make a comeback. Why not now?