Finance Minister Jim Flaherty gets his second shot at a federal budget on March 19. We hope this effort will be more ambitious and inspired than his first attempt.

Flaherty’s first budget delivered on many of his party’s election promises, except for its pledge to introduce capital gains tax relief. Given the big broken promise on the income trust file, Flaherty would be smart to give some thought to easing the tax burden. Along with following through on the promise for capital gains tax relief, he should look at expanding the income-splitting provision that is meant to soothe the sting of the income trust tax change for seniors.

This Tory government has so far done little to encourage saving and investing — both of which should be priorities in a country with an aging population.

RRSPs obviously don’t serve the needs of many Canadians — witness the billions of dollars of unused contribution room. With that in mind, Flaherty should introduce a vehicle that might work better for lower-income families, such as the tax-prepaid savings plan idea that was floated by the previous government.

The small group of high-income earners that do bother to max out their RRSPs would surely welcome still more contribution room. But what may be just as important is increasing the flexibility of the plans, including how and when they must be converted to RRIFs.

Improving productivity also remains a crucial issue for the country, and although the federal government has said plenty about it, not much has been accomplished here, either.

Scrapping unproductive taxes, such as capital taxes on financial institutions, would be a good step. But there also need to be more measures aimed at facilitating the economy’s adjustment to global forces — enabling workers to abandon industries that are no longer globally competitive for those in which Canada retains a comparative advantage. That means money for education and training.

The federal government must also do everything it can to dismantle unnecessary, self-imposed drags on growth and productivity, such as interprovincial trade barriers and needlessly costly, complex and duplicative regulatory regimes.

Flaherty should resist the urge to deliver a shameless election budget and, instead, offer a genuine vision for the country’s economic future.