The Conservatives, in a grand act of pettiness, have punted the Canadian Taxpayers Federation from the budget lockup on the 7th. It is likely in response to the organization holding the government’s feet to the fire. The budget lockup is a long tradition of the province that invites politicians from the
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Susan on the Soapbox: And Now…A Message from your Premier-In-Waiting: Mr Lukaszuk
We interrupt our regular programming—the PC spin on the cause of the $4 billion budget shortfall—to bring you an important public service announcement from the Premier-In-Waiting, Mr Lukaszuk. Mr Lukaszuk steps up to the microphone and says: Listen up you pesky union types, and this includes all you doctors who
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: Hudak wants a $300 million election, vows to vote against a budget that hasn’t been written yet
Yesterday, Finance Minister Charles Sousa started his first round of pre-Budget consultations in Mississauga, listening to the concerns of everyday Ontario families as he works to prepare a budget focused on creating jobs, lowering youth unemployment, and fostering growth and opportunity as the way forward. “My hope is that the
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Some Thoughts on the BC Budget
Five months ago, I predicted that the Liberal government of British Columbia would fail in its effort to balance the 2013 budget. Notwithstanding this week’s boastful headlines to the contrary, the jury is still out. I will not assert, as many others have done, that the surplus is purely fictional,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Juxtaposition
Unintentional setup… Ultimately, any evaluation of a government’s fiscal responsibility should include its willingness to make effective investments that carry a short-term cost and its prudence in avoiding unnecessary long-term liabilities – not merely any single-year balance sheet. And we’ll be left to pay the eventual price if we fail
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how a narrow focus on balancing budgets misses the more important story as to how our elected officials manage public money. For further reading…– Paul Krugman makes a similar point with reference to happiness economics, while highlighting the particular value of stimulus within a depressed U.S. economy. –
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On predetermination
Shorter Brent Rathgeber: What government backbencher would dare consider asking the Parliamentary Budget Officer for information if he can’t suppress any inconvenient findings? I’d rather stay ignorant, thank you very much.
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canada’s richest 1% grabbed 10.6% of all income, rich-poor gap widened: StatsCan
by Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Jan. 28, 2013: Remember Occupy, Canada? A new Statistics Canada analysis of income trends among Canadian taxfilers from 1982 to 2010, released today, confirms three of the many concerns Occupy protesters expressed in late 2011. Concerns relating to income inequality, poverty, corporate greed, etc. First, members of the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Annual Mixed-Message Season #nlpoli
Right after Ross Reid’s new job, Jerome Kennedy’s trip back to the finance ministry was the second most overblown story of the past week or so. Most seem to think Kennedy is headed back to finance in order to tackle the public sector unions as part of the upcoming budget.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Karl Flecker discusses how the Cons’ push to encourage employers to use temporary foreign workers will affect wages for everybody: In fact, what Kenney said was untrue. He has conveniently forgotten that his government significantly changed the wage rules for employers hiring
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Explaining Council Expenses
Tip of the hat to Ian Adams for clearing up any misrepresentation of council’s expenses and clarifying some information, in his most recent blog post. The total council expense allotment is well under budget this year. It usually is; we … Continue reading →
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Pat Atkinson discusses the need to make sure that Saskatchewan’s boom-time spending actually sets us up for long-term prosperity, rather than fiscal disaster: Even though the OECD report, the burgeoning federal government deficit, China’s economic slowdown and America’s political deadlock all advise
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading.- Andrew Jackson takes a look at the UK’s strong movement for a living wage, and notes that it’s long past time for a similar push in Canada.- The most remarkable part of this week’s revelations about the Cons’ cu…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Stephen Maher follows up on this week’s Supreme Court ruling on Etobicoke Centre by pointing out where we should be most worried about our electoral system: Fraudulent voting is far from the biggest problem facing our democracy. Disengagement is. Voting rates are declining
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Friday reading. – Timothy Noah writes that since Republicans haven’t been able to convince the American public that inequality is desirable or acceptable, they’re taking another angle: engaging in inequality denialism to try to pretend a growing problem doesn’t exist. – Tim Harper discusses the importance
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Tim Harper slams the Cons for yet another omnibus abuse of parliamentary democracy: Stephen Harper didn’t invent prorogation and omnibus legislation, but he has made two arcane polysyllabic political terms part of our everyday lexicon, improving our vocabulary but diminishing our democracy. His
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Conservatives Can’t Avoid Social Responsibility
There is no stronger conservative principle than personal responsibility, however this Conservative government has shown that when people are only responsible to themselves, social well-being suffers, eventually including the well-being of Conservatives. This apparent contradiction is obvious in that though Conservatives believe in personal responsibility, they also claim the largest
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: The Point of Taxes
What follows is my submission to BC’s Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. Any other British Columbians interested in influencing next year’s budget have until October 18 to do so by clicking here. Taxation has three major purposes: raising government revenue, redistributing wealth, and discouraging “bads.” The first
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Canada Already Has A 1¢ Carbon Tax
Last year this Conservative government collected $424,418,000 in taxes to pay for carbon emissions. That same year Canadians used 38,208,346,000 litres of gasoline. Doing the quick math, Canadians paid 1.1¢ or $0.011 for every litre of gas they consumed in 2011. Now Canadians weren’t taxed at the pump, though it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – The Ottawa Citizen asks whether Stephen Harper’s Conservatives think Canadians are stupid enough to fall for their asinine carbon tax spin. Aaron Wherry confirms that the answer is an emphatic “yes”. – But then, we shouldn’t be surprised to see the Cons
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