In a recent speech, Premier Gary Doer dropped the gauntlet declaring that tax cuts are for the birds. "Canadians are not a one-winged, right-winged bird that just flies around in ever-decreasing circles of tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts," said the Premier.

But what kind of bird was Doer referring to?

Could it be the ostrich - that wingless wonder that buries its head in the sand as other provinces strive to outdo each other with balanced budgets, tax cuts and debt relief payments?

How about the cuckoo - the parasitical home-wrecker given to laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, that once hatched, displace the indigenous fledglings from their own nest?

Unlikely. That behaviour is reserved for money-grubbing governments. Their insatiable appetite for taxes prevents young families from rearing more children. It stunts the birth rate. With mama bird and papa bird working half the time for big bird government and the other half feeding mouths, there are not enough worms to go around for other family members.

Never mind the Manitoba Snowbird. Having vacationed in the Sunbelt's white-hot economy, they keep coming back for more punishment from Manitoba's grinding taxes.

Nor could Doer have referred to the vulture - the rapacious predator that circles around a cold motionless corpse, not unlike the way some economies are held hostage to tax and spend governments.

What the Premier forgot to mention is that tax cuts are the gusts of air that lift all birds alike. In Ontario, Premier Mike Harris is shooting for the stars, showering the province tax cuts and widening the tax gap with Manitoba. Meanwhile Manitoba's impending tax cuts are unlikely to even register on radar.

All told, nearly $4 billion in business and personal tax breaks were promised in the Ontario budget, including the elimination of bracket creep. Finance Minister Ernie Eves even took a bite out of the $114 billion provincial debt after balancing the budget for the first time in 30 years.

To argue that tax cuts are just another spending item is looking rather preposterous in Ontario and by extension anywhere else. Post-secondary education is up $1 billion. Health care got a $1.4 billion shot in the arm and another $1.5 billion will be put back into pavement. To the sworn enemies of tax cuts, Harris is casting pearls before swine.

While income taxes were slashed by 40%, revenues in Ontario surged by an extra $4.3 billion last year alone. This is not a chicken and egg debate. On the contrary, wealth creation is the precondition for job and wage growth and redistribution to health care.

Premier Doer says that tax cuts jeopardize health care. This bogus line of reasoning is usually trotted out by the tax and spend lobby mortified by the thought that Manitoba families should be able to keep something less than 50% of the income they earn.

With far more modest tax cuts than Ontario, even Manitoba experienced better-than-expected tax revenues in recent years. But the evidence is lost on the tax cut detractors.

Interest groups that chirp for spending at the price of a tax cut are digging their own graves and the graves of other Manitobans as well.

Having ruled out income tax cuts in the past, it's hopeful the Premier, basking in rosy revenue projections, will harken to the little bird that is whispering in his ear. It is chirping that it is time to flock together with other NDP provinces and take flight with income tax relief on budget day.