April 2011

Deficit for 2010-11 will be $3 to $6 Billion Lower Than Forecast in the Budget

 

The February 2011 Fiscal Monitor reports a deficit of $28.3 billion for the first eleven months of 2010-11, $12.3 billion lower than reported for the same period last year.  In the March 2011 Budget, the Minister of Finance forecast a deficit for the year as a whole of $40.5 billion.  Based on the current results, the deficit for 2010-11 could be $3 to $6 billion lower than his current deficit forecast. 

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G&M: Lets Get the Facts Right on EI Premium Rates

 

The Globe and Mail, in a front page article entitled “Consider This” argued that the political “parties should commit to holding the line on EI premium increases”[1]  They argued that EI premium rates are going up by 15 cents per $100 of insurable earnings for every future year and that this is a significant hit on incomes and pocketbooks.  There are few errors/omissions in this article.

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IF PIGS CAN FLY

 

The Harper government is full of promises for Canadian families. So far the Conservatives have promised to allow income splitting for well-off families with children under 18; they have promised to double the contribution to tax-free savings to $10,000, another benefit for well-off Canadians; and, they have promised to double the fitness credit and to extend it to adults. The catch is that none of these promises will be implemented until the deficit is eliminated.

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PLEASE! NO MORE PROMISED TAX CUTS IN 2015: WE CAN’T AFFORD THEM

 

David Dodge, a former Deputy Minister of Finance, Deputy Minister of Health, and Governor of the Bank of Canada, has recently released a study on the growing costs of health care in Canada in the coming decades and the impact they could have on all governments –federal and provincial. He joins a long list of health care experts, economists and policy analysts who have warned governments that the there will need to be radical changes in the way health care services are delivered in Canada and the strong probability that taxes will have to be raised.

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Is the Liberal Platform Affordable?

 

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