October 2010

The 2011 Budget Is Over, Let's Start Debating The 2012 Budget

On October 12, 2010, the Minister of Finance delivered his “2011 Budget” in front of the Mississauga Chinese Business Association. This was the first time a budget had been delivered outside the House of Commons and no one noticed, or even cared.

In his “budget”, the Minister maintained the same approach to eliminating the deficit as he did in his 2010 budget.

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How Credible Is The October 2010 Fall Economic And Fiscal Update?

The Minister of Finance presented his Economic and Fiscal Update on October 12, 2010 in preparation for planning the 2011 budget, which showed a small surplus in 2015-16. Given a number of high profile international developments on the same day, the Update has received little public scrutiny. This note presents our assessment of the credibility of the latest Update.

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How to Make $57 Billion Disappear The Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board

The Minister of Finance announced on September 30, 2010 that the government would be limiting the increase in the employment insurance (EI) rate for 2011 to 5 cents (employee rate) rather than the 15 cents “recommended by the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board (CEIFB)”. In addition, the annual change in future years would be limited to 10 cents rather than the current 15 cents.

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Time to Change the EI Rate-Setting Mechanism - Again

In Budget 2008, the Government established the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board (CEIFB), a Crown corporation, reporting to Parliament through the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. The government set the employment insurance (EI) premium rates for 2009 and 2010, while the new corporation will recommend the rate for 2011. The Board must take into account previous years’ deficits/surpluses (backward focus) rather than just focusing on setting a “break-even” for the upcoming year.

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Taxing jobs to raise revenues-There has to be a better Way

The 2010 Budget assumed the employment insurance (EI) premium rate would increase by 15 cents (employee rate) a year, from 2011 to 2014, (the rate was frozen in 2009 and 2010) contributing an additional $6 billion to government revenues by 2014-15. The increase in EI revenues is critical to the government’s plan to eliminate the deficit over the medium term.

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