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Ask any Liberal around the budget launch on Tuesday, and they would say the answer to that question is: none of it 鈥� if Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives win the next election. 鈥淗e could throw all of this away,鈥� one official said, flatly.

By 鈥渁ll of this,鈥� this adviser was referring to all the 鈥渇airness鈥� that this budget tried so hard to stress, not at all subtly. (鈥淔airness for Every Generation” is this year鈥檚 budget title and some version of the word “fair” winds hundreds of times through its 400-plus pages.)

Leave aside the fairness, for now, though. The best suggested title for this budget comes from Jennifer Robson, head of Carleton University鈥檚 school of political management, who called it the 鈥渂ucket list鈥� budget.

Robson was thinking in particular of to the White House correspondents鈥� dinner in 2015, when he saw the end of his second term as president looming.

“After the midterm elections, my advisers asked me, ‘Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?’ And I said, ‘Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list.鈥�”

Obama went on. “Take executive action on immigration. Bucket. New climate regulations. Bucket, it’s the right thing to do.鈥�

Conservatives are not likely to mind that bucket nickname. First, bucket lists are what you make before your time is up, which they definitely believe is imminent for Trudeau and company. Also, Poilievre will be all too happy to talk about the buckets of spending in the budget 鈥� $39.3 billion of it. Poilievre鈥檚 after the budget, predictably, hauled out the now-familiar slogan: 鈥渘ot worth the cost.鈥�

However, maybe also predictably, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland鈥檚 budget speech was pointedly addressed to the Conservatives and those who might be tempted to choose Poilievre to succeed Trudeau.

The most partisan points in Freeland鈥檚 speech were essentially a bucket list of her own 鈥� or, more widely, of her government. Six questions, framed around what kind of country Canadians want.

鈥淒o you want to live in a country where you can tell the size of someone鈥檚 paycheque by their smile?鈥� (That鈥檚 the dental-care promise, part of the Liberals鈥� ongoing deal with the New Democrats. And, incidentally, nothing in this budget appears to imperil that deal, probably because there was a lot of back and forth between the parties in advance of it, I鈥檓 told.)

Freeland’s other bucket-list questions revolved a lot around housing, no surprise, and all the things Canadians get from activist government.

She didn鈥檛 say it outright, but one of the questions was: do you want to live in a country like the United States, in the shadow of Donald Trump? Freeland noted a couple of times that birth control is covered under the emerging pharmacare program 鈥� $1.5 billion set aside over five years to support its launch, which also included coverage of diabetes medication.

鈥淲omen in other countries 鈥� our friends, our neighbours 鈥� are losing their right to control their own bodies. We will not let that happen here.鈥� No subtlety was intended there either, as the Liberals hold their breaths and see whether the contest between Trump and Joe Biden later this year will ripple here in 91原创 in a way that puts Liberals in a more favourable light.

There is way to view this latest, but possibly not last, budget from Trudeau鈥檚 government as an exercise in what you could call Poilievre-proofing 鈥� battening down the hatches of progressive government in ways that Conservatives would find difficult to unravel if they win the next election.

That doesn鈥檛 apply to the $42-million next year for the CBC, obviously, which Poilievre is vowing to defund, but an argument can be made that Canadians are too attached now to the 91原创 child benefit and national child care, for instance, to be easily reversed.

Back in 2015, when Obama was talking to the White House correspondents鈥� dinner and Trudeau was months away from winning power for the first time, the former president鈥檚 鈥渂ucket鈥� speech was seen as evidence of a man and government growing more feisty and combative as the next election loomed.

The same has been seen of Trudeau in recent weeks, ready to pick some fights with Conservatives or the provinces 鈥� and there is plenty in this budget showing a government ready to mix it up with the premiers too, on housing or climate change.

The f-word in this budget, we鈥檙e told, is 鈥渇air.鈥� But what else rhymes with 鈥渂ucket?鈥�