By: Council of Canadians (Press Release) With the next federal budget fast approaching, the 2013 Alternative Federal Budget (AFB), Doing Better Together, released today, warns that the “Harper government’s cuts to the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) and other critical environmental programs will hinder the ability to develop freshwater policies and respond to threats to
Continue readingTag: Deficit
The Scott Ross: How A Bad Economy Is Not Harper’s Fault
Canada’s economy is set to grow less than the government thought, but it’s not our Prime Minister’s fault. True under Stephen Harper the World Bank has downgraded Canada from being the 4th most Business Friendly country in 2006 to 17th in 2013, but, as most Conservatives know, businesses have nothing
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 readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: If the next two years are bad… #nlpoli
No surprise that on the day after natural resources minister Jerome Kennedy talked about looming deficits of pre-1934 proportions that the ruling Conservatives did two things. First, backbencher Paul Lane reinterpreted Kennedy’s comments on VOCM Open Line with Randy Simms. There will only be big deficits, says Lane, if we
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Attack on free collective bargaining political, not fiscal
In December, it was predicted that outgoing finance minister Dwight Duncan would reduce his deficit forecast just before his departure (for Bay Street). Duncan had somehow estimated in his fall economic statement that the 2012-3 deficit would be $14.4 billion, i.e. higher than the 2011-12 deficit — and even higher than
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: If A Fiscal Cliff Kills, Canada Should Tax Death
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” – Benjamin Franklin The fiscal cliff in the United States did not just endanger its own country’s economy but the world’s, including Canada’s heavily dependent one. But in the American problem lies, at least partially, a
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Canadian National Debt Growing Faster Than GDP
Canada’s debt is growing faster than our ability to pay for it.
Since 2008 Canadian public debt has been growing faster than our GDP. Though there are many warning signs of economic trouble, there is no clearer caution of a potential crisis than when…
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Conservative Fiscal Deficits & Ignorant Surpluses
Though many would say that fiscal deficits from this Conservative government are the most worrying, their lack of economic knowledge is far more dangerous.
Before showing the economic ignorance of Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre a quick introduction…
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Now Americans Need To Follow Republican Lead
Voters showed the Republican Party doesn’t represent America, but in losing the election and now facing hard choices, for America’s sake, perhaps Republicans should.
For today, after losing the Presidency, again, and additional senate seats, Republica…
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 Folly of Balanced Budget Laws in BC
The news is out. Due to declining natural gas prices, the BC Liberal government is projecting a budget deficit of $1.14 billion this year — $173 million more than expected. And while the government still insists that it plans on finding enough savings to balance next year’s (election year) budget,
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: How Reducing The GST Increased Your Debt
With declining productivity, higher unemployment, and deficit after deficit, it should be obvious the Canadian government would do anything to strengthen the economy, however it is not so obvious what that same government has done to weaken it. In a 2008 report it was predicted that the Conservative government in
Continue readingUnderlooked Stephen Harper quotes P7: Stephen Harper likes Paul Martin and his onslaught and slashing of the public sector.
“Whether I agree with what he’s doing or not, Paul Martin is obviously in the top of his area,” Harper says. “He has good support within his party, he’s very popular with within the cabinet and caucus and he’s just a very good performer as well.” “Those things all make him difficult to attack.”
24/07/1995
Harper had quite an appreciation for Paul Martin, and he made it vocal – and not just once, this isn’t an isolated incidence – there are at least 5 other quotes of fondness towards Paul Martin in the leaked compilation. It wasn’t just Harper, either, it was many on the right who had an admiration of sorts for Paul Martin, then Finance Minister under Jean Chrétien.
“The dirty secret of contempory Canadian politics,” neo-conservative David Frum wrote in 1998, “is that from the point of view of right-of-centre Canadians, the Liberals are running quite a tolerable government.” (1)
The reason for this is most obvious: under Chrétien and Paul Martin, the Liberals persisted, promoted and implemented economic neoliberalism – an assault on the public sector. Privatization, government downsizing, and of course, tax cuts.
If you noticed, Harper, and even David Frum, gave credit to the Liberals and Paul Martin well before he became Prime Minister in 2003. This is because Paul Martin had de-factor control of the economic direction of the federal government under Jean Chrétien.
Ministers and their ministries…effectively went into defensive mode….
In Chrétien’s government, Martin didn’t just decide how much had to be cut from total spending in the critically important 1995 budget; he and his senior officials actually decided how much each department would have to give up…
By allowing Martin and his financial officials to make all decisions, Chretien, in effect, handed the reins of government to his finance minister. (2)
And, boy, was Martin cruel. His budget cuts were incredibly steep. During the build-up to the 1995 budget, Martin and his staff handed sheets to each department minister with expected budget cuts as percent of spending over the next three years, and “the size of the required cuts left the ministers gasping: in many cases, they were all well above 50 per cent [reductions].” (3) For the Department of Industry, Martin expected a 60% reduction, and in conclusion, actually got around 50% budget cuts for two departments (Natural Resource and Transport).
In their 1995 budget the Grits introduced $25 billion in cuts and eliminated 45,000 jobs, approximately fourteen times the spending promises in their election manifesto, the Red Book. By 1997 Chretien’s [and Martin’s] government had downloaded roughly $6 billion to the provincial governments, an overall 30 percent reduction †.(1)
Some cuts were even steeper than Harper’s current expectations (around 30% from most departments – for example, in 2012, CBC is getting slashed 10 percent), a staggering reality*. Overall, though, they match**. Contrast to the expected loss of over 15,000 federal employees in 2012 thanks to the Conservatives.
Paul Martin appeased those on the right because Paul Martin did what those on the right wanted. Economically, there was barely any difference between the Liberal party and the Reform-then-Alliance (predecessor to the current Conservative party). Harper noticed this, too:
Only on some ‘social’ values are the Liberals and the Alliance [successor of the Reform party, predecessor of the CPC] radically different.
20/09/2000
Admitting there are only ‘social’ values that said parties disagreed on obviously means that economically, they’re quite similar, if not identical. Indeed, the economic direction of the Liberal party then is eerily similar to the economic policy of Harper’s government now – and it’s understandable. Martin did what Harper liked.
Harper even once referred to Paul Martin as the “messiah in waiting” for the Liberal party (07/10/2002).
† Some claim it to be as much as a 40 percent reduction (5). Such cuts had dire consequences for the provinces,
Newfounland lost $73 million, the equivalent of more than half of all payment to physician; Nova Scotia lost $118, or twice the provincial spending on mental health services; Quebec saw a $1.1 billion cut, the equivalent of half of all payments for doctors’ services. Ontario took the biggest hit at $1.4 billion – twenty times the amount spent on community health centres – and Manitoba lost $139 million, the amount it takes to operate the provinces sixty-five smaller hospitals.(6)
*Interesting note.
The departments that received the smallest cuts corresponded with what neo-liberals and economic rationalists traditionally saw as the core activities of the state: justice, immigration and foreign affairs and international trade… (4)
Again, very similar to the direction of our current Conservative government.
** Martin would later lighten up on his neoliberal fever for political reasons, similarly to Harper.
(1)Laird, Gordon. Slumming It at the Rodeo: The Cultural Roots of Canada’s Right-wing Revolution. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1998. Page 123-124
(2) Dobbin, Murray. Paul Martin: CEO for Canada? Toronto: James Lorimer &, 2003. Print. Page 67-68
(3) Ibid Page 74
(4) Ibid Page 76
(5) Barlow, Maude, and Bruce Campbell. Straight through the Heart: How the Liberals Abandoned the Just Society and What Canadians Can Do about It. Toronto: HarperPerennial, 1996. Print. Page 150
(6) Dobbin, Murray. Page 78
Underlooked Stephen Harper quotes P7: Stephen Harper likes Paul Martin and his onslaught and slashing of the public sector.
I’ve decided to add another part to my underlooked Harper series upon reflection with new information in mind. All of the Stephen Harper quotes, unless otherwise noted, are dug up from the leaked Harper database of controversial quotes. I’m covering them because these haven’t gotten the media or blogger attention
Continue readingCanadian mythology: Bob Rae, NDP and socialists to blame for Ontario’s deficit.
A common article for the Toronto Sun outlines this:
Rae tripled Ontario’s deficit to $9.7 billion and raised taxes in his first budget in 1991, saying he was proud to fight the recession rather than the deficit.
But, to be fair, Rae was facing a recession, just as Harper did in 2008 when the federal Conservatives blew the budget on economic stimulus (albeit at the insistence of the Liberals, NDP and Bloc in a minority Parliament).
To be fair, it was an international recession – keenly happening in America, which invariably and inevitably will affect us so long as NAFTA ties us – and to put the brunt of the blame on the NDP is absurd. A Premier of a province can’t control the international market, but even in this article it lobs the blame on Bob Rae quite thoughtlessly.
It’s post hoc ergo propter hoc with a convenient ignorance of what governmental action actually exacerbated the recession in Canada. The early 90s recession, by the way, which caused the deficit in the first place. Hundred of thousands laid off, diminished tax base, money being paid for EI, money being paid for welfare – these things lead to governmental debt.
The government action that worsened the already terrible recession wasn’t from any socialist or left-leaning peoples, but actually a right-wing government with many business interests: the Progressive Conservatives under Brian Mulroney.
The reason this recession hurt particularly in Canada can indeed be blamed on John Crow and the Brian Mulroney Progressive Conservatives. John Crow was the then-Governor of the Bank of Canada – Canada’s central bank which controls and regulates the financial market – from 1987 to 1994. He was appointed by Brian Mulroney.
One thing the Bank of Canada does is regulate, and to a degree, control interest rates. When your borrow money from a bank, or store your money in a bank, our Bank of Canada decides the limits on what you can earn and what you can lose in terms interest payments.
John Crow’s grand idea was to end inflation, supported by then Progressive Conservative Finance Minister Michael Wilson,
Like [John] Crow, [Michael] Wilson had a staunch, almost obsessive commitment to fighting inflation, and the two men agreed in the spring of 1987 that the battle should be stepped up. (1)
How could this be done?
…perhaps the most potent method – a method which, if applied with sufficient force, could stop inflation dead in its tracks – was to raise interests rates. (2)
Raising interest rates means it’s more expensive for most Canadians to pay for their personal loans – such as a mortgage or a line of credit. Raising interest rates, which Jim Crow did, caused significant damage to a substantial amount of Canadians,
Exerting such a strong influence over interest rates was like exercising a life-and-death power over the economy. In a sense, controlling interests rate was like controlling the country’s supply to fresh air. Money was the economy’s oxygen; it allowed the system to function, to breathe. If oxygen became scarce, the economy would start gasping for air. This is exactly what higher interest rates did; by driving up the cost of borrowing money, higher interest rates made it harder to get access to money. Thus, businesses couldn’t expand their operations and perhaps couldn’t even pay their employees, consumers couldn’t buy houses and cars and large appliances, and perhaps could no longer even afford even little expenses like having their clothes dry-cleaned or their hair cut. If their interest rate lever was cranked up high enough, and oxygen became sufficiently scarce, the economy would start choking in a desperate struggle to breathe.
…the significant result of all this was a recession. (3)
Another problem that raising interest rates caused was driving up the Canadian dollar, which made it more expensive for manufacturers to invest in Canada (4). The reason our dollar increased was that high interest rates attracted wealthy people looking to invest and make a return, as high interest rates disproportionally benefit the rich*. Reminds you of something?
The worst year of the John Crow rule was the same year the NDP was elected to government in Ontario: 1990,
He jacked up interest rates sharply in the spring and summer of 1990 – until they were five to six percentage points higher than the U.S. rates. This plunged the economy into a deep recession, which turned into the longest period of economic stagnation [in Canada] since the thirties. (5)
And academics agree that this recession was the main cause of Canadian debt:
These findings are in line with those of other well-known mainstream economists. As we’ve seen, Pierre Fortin concluded that roughly $30 billion of the total deficit for all levels of government in 1992 could be attributed to the recession, which Fortin blames largely on an over-tight monetary policy. Ernie Stokes, head of WEFA Canada and a former Finance department economist in Ottawa, also concluded that Canada’s deficit would have been much smaller – by about $25 billion in 1991, for instance – if it had followed the looser monetary policy of the U.S. during the Crow years. (6)
Thanks to the right-wing, business-dominated Canadian print media (and otherwise) Bob Rae and the NDP get the blame for the Ontario deficit, while the Progressive Conservatives (and the business community that backed them) seem to remain immune for accusation. Take action, dispel these myths and put the blame where it ought to be on: the wealthy and greedy business elite who back the policies which would benefit themselves at the cost of the majority of Canadians lives and well-being. Progressives, liberals and socialists are seldom the problem in Ontario, or Canada, or even anywhere else; rather, it’s the capitalists to blame. These sneaky bastards are so dastardly they’ve managed to subdue the population and shift the very blame onto those who would rather liberate us from their grip. We’ve been duped.
Fight the power.
Because the power is fighting you. And winning.
To end, the book (Shooting the Hippo: Death by Deficit and Other Canadian Myths) where I got the majority of this information, I would give two thumbs up and recommend it to you all.
* Just to flesh out an example, high interest rates overwhelmingly benefit the already wealthy:
In 1991, Canadians with income between $10,000 and $15,000 received interest income averaging $1,500 per person – an amount that largely reflected the interest collected by seniors and low-income groups. But rich Canadians, with incomes over $250,000, enjoyed interest income that year averaging #51,000 per person… thirty-four times the size of that received by the lower-income group. (7)
(1) McQuaig, Linda. “John Crow and the Politics of Obsession.” Shooting the Hippo: Death by Deficit and Other Canadian Myths. Toronto: Viking, 1995. pag 73. Print.
(2) Ibid. Page 76
(3) Ibid. Page 78
(4) Ibid. Page 103
(5) Ibid. Page 109
(6) Ibid. Page 115
(7) Ibid. Page 84
Canadian mythology: Bob Rae, NDP and socialists to blame for Ontario’s deficit.
One of Canada’s enduring mythologies is that during the NDP reign in Ontario from 1990 to 1995 a whole plethora of woe was inflicted as the result of Bob Rae and his mismanagement. Most people point to the fact that during that time the deficit of Ontario increased quite a
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Stephen Harper Isn’t Socialist But Don’t Tell Him That
It would be ludicrous to suggest Stephen Harper is a socialist, because he’s not, he is however similar to one. Creating the biggest government in Canadian history, running the largest deficit, using government programs to dictate where people live and work, increasing spending while reducing taxes, government intervention in labour
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: NDP: Harper Created Worst Deficit in Canadian History (VIDEO)
Apparently, the Official Opposition will not allow Stephen Harper‘s appetite for character-assassinating attack ads and propaganda to go unchallenged. The NDP has responded to the Conservatives’ recent attack ad targeting its leader, Thomas Mulcair. The ad, dubbed “Stephen Harper’s Solutions,” focuses on the prime minister’s economic record. It lambasts the Conservative
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Opposing Supply Management & Economic Principles
While supply management is bad for our economy, the discussion around it has at least managed to supply how the majority who oppose it are intellectually dishonest. For the Conservatives, libertarians, Liberals, and the like who are now so vocal in their opposition to supply management, a relatively minor economic
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