Brace yourself ...

For a day of unusual confusion.

This is Harper/Flaherty Budget Day. We will find out ... hold it. Oh! Some people already know!

The Conservative government will ask millions of Canadians to push back their retirement as part of a landmark budget that stresses bold action now to position Canada’s economy in the face of major demographic changes to come. 

Ottawa will unveil plans Thursday to delay Old Age Security benefits until age 67, The Globe has learned, confirming Prime Minister Stephen Harper's long-telegraphed blueprint for retirement reform. The OAS changes will be phased in over a number of years, creating a generational divide between Canadians who will receive the benefit – worth more than $6,000 a year – at age 65 and other Canadians who will have to wait longer.

I doubt Flaherty will be "asking" anybody to do anything. It's not his style. He much prefers to stick it to others and then laugh. And we might point out that he has a security problem. That's one leaky document.

Elsewhere, I expect those who believe there is an opportunity to get grip on the illegal activities which occurred during the last federal election will be somewhat disappointed. Keep your eye on Canada's top parliamentary committee junky. No matter what happens, (and I think it will go largely off topic), Kady will be tempting carpal tunnel syndrome to get the information out there. 

Stevie, at work

STEVIE IS AT IT AGAIN. Doesn't like science, and is really going after the Quebec vote. CBC reports "Famed star observatory in Quebec loses federal support".

The Mont Mégantic Observatory — about 250 kilometres east of Montreal, in the Eastern Townships — is the largest astronomy centre of its kind in eastern North America, and a popular destination for researchers and star enthusiasts alike.

But funding cuts at the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) mean the centre is losing half its annual budget this year, leaving the observatory’s future in peril, said director Robert Lamontagne.

Apparently, the rationale is that we're doing so much elsewhere. However, the outfit is doing good science, and it's available to students, unlike Hawaii and S. America.

And we do good science. Here's another CBC report about the data results from a baloon flight from two years ago, where a deep-infra-red sensor package observed more galaxies in 11 days than had been detected in the previous decade. These are huge galaxies that formed in the very early universe. Not only that, but we did it for $49.95, relativistically, so to speak.

Do click on the picture — it's kinda cool.