Its amazing how much a budget can contain while avoiding addressing the most critical questions of an economic crisis: How are we helping the most vulnerable, particularly those who have lost their jobs? Â With over $2.6 billion in spending on additional EI and retraining programs in 2009, the government has managed to not allow one additional unemployed person to […]
Read moreThe leakiest budget in Canadian history is now in the public domain, and will not lead to the fall of the Harper government. The budget was preceded by numerous press conferences held by Ministers (with the PM uncharacteristically out of sight), leaving some details to be filled in on budget day, largely tax measures, but in the end it featured […]
Read moreWatching the news last night, there was a lot on the pros and cons of tax cuts versus public spending. As one who has been following the debate on both sides of the border, it is interesting to note the convergence. The Canadian debate, up to the near-fall of the Harper government, was about whether the Canadian economy is actually […]
Read moreAn amended text from my speaking notes for the press conference releasing the 2009 Alternative Federal Budget. The press conference was covered live on Newsworld and Newsnet. In it we took an opportunity to comment on yesterday’s leak that the deficit will be $34 billion in 2009/10 and $30 billion in 2010/11. The good news is that after a year […]
Read moreImpact on Jobs and the Economy Over 100,000 full-time jobs were lost in the last two months of 2008, confirming that Canada has followed the U.S. into a serious recession. Going into the Budget, the emerging consensus among economic forecasters (e.g., BMO and TD Bank) was that the Canadian economy would shrink by at least 1% in 2009, after almost […]
Read moreWe are now into full blown Budget consultation mode, with MPs of all parties going through a bit more than the usual pretence of listening before the actual Budget is finally put to bed by the government a few days hence. For once, even the Conservative inner circle seem a bit unsure of where to go. Below the closed (charmed) […]
Read moreBriarpatch printed my article, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap: Saskatchewan’s Multi-billion Dollar Resource Giveaway,†in its December 2008 edition. The magazine’s editor has a knack for excellent rock-themed titles: my previous contribution on Saskatchewan’s business tax cuts was entitled “Money for Nothing, and the Sultans of Spin Get Their Tax Cuts for Free.†When I submitted the article and spoke […]
Read moreThe transcript of my pre-budget presentation is now available on the Ontario Legislative Assembly website. The content overlaps significantly with two recent posts. My budget-related testimony on the Ontario Health Premium is also online. Again, it reflects material already posted on this blog.
Read moreThe Bank of Canada today announced what appeared to be a dramatic cut (witness the splashy headlines) in the target for the overnight rate — a 50 basis point reduction. Bank of Canada to the rescue? Think again. The move was greeted with yawns from the banking community, which lowered mortgage rates by a mere 25 basis points. I’m surprised […]
Read moreAs reported by Julian Beltram of Canadian Press: The federal government has started the new fiscal year in a rare deficit position, announcing yesterday it was $517 million in the red after two months as tax cuts and a slowing economy sliced into revenues. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said revenues fell $1.6 billion combined in April and May, 4.1 per […]
Read moreBC’s public accounts for 2007/08 were released yesterday, closing the fiscal year with a surplus of $2.886 billion. This marks BC’s fourth truly massive surplus in a row, after surpluses of $2.575 billion in 2004/05, $3.060 billion in 2005/06, and $4.056 billion in 2006/07. Like all of those budgets, the 2007/08 budget as tabled in February 2007 vastly understated the […]
Read moreWhile driving down the 401 recently, I listened to some upstate New York radio and heard a great ad from New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness. This organization resembles the CCPA’s alternative budget initiatives, although its Better Choice campaign is reminiscent of the CLC.
Read moreAh, the confluence of the events! The tabling of a “prudent†federal budget for uncertain times, followed a week later by news of slowing economic growth. Of course, rumors of the economy’s imminent decline may be greatly exaggerated, given January’s jobs report and trade data. But let’s carry forth with the economic accounts data. Earlier, Erin and Toby drew […]
Read moreEven Jim Flaherty’s “We Don’t Pick Winners†Conservatives were under pressure in this budget to do something for the auto industry. The fact that at least a dozen swing ridings in southwestern Ontario could determine the outcome of the next election might have something to do with their sensitivity to the continuing industrial destruction being wrought in what is still […]
Read moreI am glad that Jim Flaherty’s budget did not actually come through with a rumoured exemption for capital gains income. Recall that the Conservatives’ 2006 platform had promised a ridiculous and unworkable exemption from income taxes on capital gains so long as the winnings were “re-invested.” This high-profile broken promise still clearly niggled the Harper government, and expectations were high […]
Read moreIf anyone had any doubt…
Read moreI want to piggy-back very briefly on Marc’s post from Tuesday (and update yesterday) which suggested that the proposed Tax-Free Savings Account won’t “promote investment” like the government says it will (see page 76 of Budget). The empirical literature I’ve seen certainly supports his argument — most corporate investment is financed from retained earnings, which in turn suggests that consumption, […]
Read moreThe House of Commons Finance Committee has just released its pre Budget report and recommendations. There’s a lot of common denominator all party agreement here, including on some modestly useful items. The report focuses on the impacts of thr high dollar and on tax measures. http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?SourceId=225139Â What I find perhaps most interesting – and rather disturbing – is the lack […]
Read moreA clear contradiction has emerged in John Tory’s election promises. It reflects an existing tension in the McGuinty government’s position. As noted previously on this blog, the Conservative Party’s election platform proposes that Ontario join TILMA. As reported in today’s Globe and Mail, Tory has pledged to require that provincially-funded institutions buy their food and beverages from Ontario producers. Such […]
Read moreThere are several interesting articles in the most recent (June 2007) issue of Canadian Public Policy, but the one that grabbed my attention examines the size of government in Canada and the US. Most commentators assume that the Canadian public sector is significantly larger. A few point out that the huge reduction of Canadian-government spending (relative to GDP) since the […]
Read moreThe Globe and Mail ran an editorial last Friday (now subscriber only content)Â Their summary reads:Â “We have grown used to the notion that our governments can run up budget surpluses. If only they could show some vision for putting the money to work.Statistics Canada reported yesterday that all levels of Canadian government posted a combined surplus of $29-billion […]
Read moreOver the last little while, some of my compadres here at Relentlessly Progressive Economics have intuited and sometimes even insisted that while Stéphane Dion’s socially liberal bona fides are not in question, his economic policy proposals place him well to the right of centre. Well, now we have proof from none other than Mr. Dion himself. Witness (see below), for […]
Read moreFrom the Toronto Star March 23, 2007, p. A21. Working poor get little relief from Flaherty Upon closer inspection, the Conservative finance minister’s Working Income Tax Benefit falls way short of the original proposal first floated by his Liberal predecessor Ralph Goodale, notes John Stapleton March 23, 2007 There was much anticipation that the latest federal budget would […]
Read moreOntario’s 2007 Budget just came out and it includes a minimum wage increase to $10.25 per hour in 2010.
Read moreBC Budget 2007 is a “housing budget†that does not build much housing. The budget commits to a mere 250 new social housing units over two years – a far cry from the 2,000 per year that was built back when the federal and provincial governments were in the game (before 1993). At this pace, it will take 17 years […]
Read moreYesterday, the BC office of the CCPA released our annual alternative provincial budget, which we call the BC Solutions Budget. It is hard to keep these things fresh when the government does not listen year after year. Mostly, we harp on the fact that the budget estimates have become so conservative that they are off by billions come fiscal year […]
Read moreThe only surprise in the long-term economic strategy document unveiled by the Finance Minister today is its complete lack of balance. Everything corporate Canada and the right-wing think-tanks wanted is there in spades. What it lacks is any sense that the market economy must be regulated in the public interest to make sure that it works for working families. Consider […]
Read moreThe Fraser is on a roll. After taking some time settling into the big chair, new Executive Director Mark Mullins has unleashed a torrent of new releases in the past couple months. Few of these are “new” in the sense of original material, mostly they are updates of previous reports with spanky new ISBN numbers. Let’s look at a couple. […]
Read moreA few months back, the BC government launched a “conversation on health care” that will last almost two years and will feature forums around the province engaging people on what they would like their public health care system to be. Having such discussions should be seen as a part of a health democracy, even though we have had numerous tomes […]
Read moreIn the current political environment, a government running a deficit is bad bad bad. We have reverted to ideas that dominated economic thought in the 1930s – that budgets should always be balanced. This sentiment is reflected in modern budgeting practices that add contingency reserves and fiscal cushions to already lowballed estimates of revenues, so that even if the economy […]
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