October 2013
IS HARPER A FISCAL CONSERVATIVE? AN UPDATE FROM 2011
The Conservative party will begin its National Convention in Calgary on Thursday of this week. Prime Minister Harper is no doubt looking forward to a strong convention that would get his government out of its mid-term doldrums.
Read MorePBO LEAVES FLAHERTY WITH LESS ROOM TO MANOEUVRE
In its latest “Economic and Fiscal Outlook the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) still expects the Government to meet its balanced budget commitment in 2015-16, but with a much smaller surplus than forecast in its April 2003 update. A surplus of only $200 million is now forecast for 2015-16, down $3.5 billion from the surplus of $3.7 billion forecast in its April 2013 Update, leaving the Government little flexibility to introduce new policy initiatives, or honour its 2011 election promises of introducing new tax expenditures, in advance of the 2015 election. The PBO estimates th
Read MoreUNDERMINING PARLIAMENT ONCE AGAIN
On Wednesday, the Minister of Finance tabled BILL C-4, the second omnibus bill related to measures proposed in the March 2013 Budget. Like most of the others tabled by the Minister, this was another brick, totalling 322 pages. And like the others, it included measures that were not explicitly referred to in the budget.The Government once again has circumvented the authority of Parliament. This is becoming commonplace and no one seems all that concerned. Everyone is focused on the “senate scandal”, not on the diminished role of Parliament
Read MoreFISCAL MONITOR FOR APRIL TO AUGUST 2013
For the first five months of fiscal year 2013-14, the federal government posted a deficit of $6.8 billion, a decline of $0.4 billion from that reported in the same period in 2012-13. Given the results to date, coupled with the fact that the final outcome for 2012-13 was nearly $7 billion lower than forecast, the budgetary balance projections for 2013-14 and beyond are clearly out-of-date and the commitment to balance the budget in 2015-16 appears to be secured.
Read MoreELIMINATING THE DEFICIT JUST GOT EASIER
The Department of Finance released the final audited financial results for 2012-13 in its Annual Financial Report (AFR).
Read MoreSpeech From The Throne: Balanced Budgets And Job Creation-Playing To The Conservative Base
Wednesday’s marathon throne speech once again repeated the well worn phrases that “our government is leading the world by example”; “Canada now leads the G-7 in job creation; in income (not GDP) growth; and in keeping debt levels low”; “our government will eliminate the deficit by 2015-16;” and, “our government will reduce the debt/GDP ratio to 25 per cent by 2021”.
Read MoreWhat To Do With The Expected Surplus? — The real question for the 2015 election
In September, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) released its annual Fiscal Sustainability Report. The report provides “a projection of current fiscal policy 75 years into the future to assess the implications of demographic and structural pressures on government financing”. 1
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