If you accept the provincial government’s version of things, spending a half a billion dollars more than you are collecting is a responsible decision. That’s the headline the government’s communications people put on the news release covering the release of the fall budget update. And if you look at either
Continue readingTag: public finance
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Political Mummers’ Parade on Monday #nlpoli
Finance minister Tom Marshall will present his mid-year financial update on Monday. It is supposed to be a way of bringing everyone up to date on how the annual budget is going. It’s an accountability thing. Since the government’s fiscal year starts in April, the middle of the year was
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Debt, Demand, and Delusions #nlpoli
The Conservatives running the province got together with their staff and key supporters this weekend to reaffirm their conviction that they alone ought to be running the province. Some people seem to think it’s remarkable that they stand together behind Kathy Dunderdale and her supposed wonderful charm, despite what the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Political Will and Public Policy #nlpoli
The SIDI simulation of government spending that we’ve run this past week might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but these sort of thought exercises are always useful. The most striking thing is the amount of money from oil and mining that the provincial government has spent in the past
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Well on the way to Debt Freedom #nlpoli
According to economist-consultant Wade Locke, the provincial government’s “Sustainability” Plan includes a debt commitment: The long-run target is to bring the province’s net per capita debt gradually down to the all-province level within ten years. Locke made it clear in another part of his March 25 memo to finance minister
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Land of Confusion meets World of Hurt #nlpoli
From Tuesday’s Hansard comes this chilling reminder that even the Premier has no idea what is going on with the province’s finances. Mr. Speaker, I again have to implore the members opposite to stop pretending that you do not understand the fiscal structure of the Province. The $600 million that
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Pennies and Pounds #nlpoli
In May 2011, the provincial public works department issued a call for proposals to replace the lift bridge in Placentia. In August 2011, the department scrapped the project and went back for a re-think. They got only one proposal for $43.25 million, which upset them given that they had figured
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: One Newsroom. Two Stories. @nlpoli
For the English crowed in Newfoundland and Labrador, @cbcnl gave its audience one story from the Auditor General’s report. They focused on horrendous salary increases in one government agency. From the Radio Canada desk in the same newsroom comes a completely different story that fits exactly with the Big Story
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Putting selective “facts” on the splitting table #nlpoli
Premier Kathy Dunderdale wants to have a “conversation” about the provincial government’s financial mess and the ways we might fix it. That’s what she told CBC’s David Cochrane in her year-end interview. One of the things Kathy wants to talk about is taxes, specifically the number of people not paying
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Where the Money Comes From #nlpoli
Just to put the provincial government budget in perspective, here are the top five sources of cash that come into the treasury from what are considered the province’s own sources. This table is based on the Estimates for Budget 2012. Oil royalties are the major source of revenue by quite
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Root of the Problem #nlpoli
Mr. Speaker, if the members opposite think that the level of scrutiny that we do over a $3 billion expenditure in health care is to take every single health authority and work down line by line by line through every piece of that, I do not know what they are
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Public debt and financial mismanagement #nlpoli
A few days ago, Stephen Taylor posted a table from a 2010 study that showed how big Quebec’s public debt is compared to that of countries around the world. The results weren’t pretty. A similar comparison for Newfoundland and Labrador isn’t pretty either. A rough comparison for Newfoundland and Labrador
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Fiscal conservative, you say? #nlpoli
One of the more curious comments from provincial Conservative supporters lately has been the claim that they support the current Connie administration provincially because they – the supporters – are fiscal conservatives. labradore has already challenged one such claim with a look at the provincial labour force figures. Here’s the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Dundernomics 101: Public Sector Employment Numbers #nlpoli
In an interview with CBC’s David Cochrane, Premier Kathy Dunderdale said that the public service has grown by more than 2,100 jobs in the past eight years and that total employment in the public service is about 9,000. Well, not exactly. That depends on what you consider to be public
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The old cabinet documents ploy #nlpoli #cdnpoli
Premier Kathy Dunderdale and her ministers refuse to hand over documents on more than $5.0 billion in public works spending by the Conservatives since 2004. The documents are cabinet secrets, as their argument goes, and under the access to information law cabinet cannot release that information to him. like her
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: AG Report–Government Liabilities #nlpoli
The latest report by the province’s Auditor General has some information to bear in mind as we talk about Muskrat Falls. Note that total liabilities went up from the end of March 2010 to the end of March 2011. It now stands at more than $13 billion. But… Financial assets
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Wading through Locke on Muskrat (Part 3) #nlpoli #cdnpoli
[continued from Part 2] Debt One of the issues Wade Locke set out to address was the impact Muskrat Falls would have on public debt. For some other information on Muskrat Falls and public debt, check this earlier post. Slide 43 is a table of debt servicing amounts based on
Continue readingExcited Delirium: Open The Books for Everyone
Here’s a great piece from David Climenhaga contributing to rabble about fiscal openness. While it’s extremely unlikely that the Harperites will follow his advice, I fully agree that now is the time to open all books for any organization that receives (or received) public funds of any kind. If unions
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Inadvertent fiscal black humour
There’s something truly frightening listening to politicians and former politicians discussing the provincial government’s supposed plans to apply a surplus in the current fiscal year to the provincial debt. They aren’t doing it. Full stop. The provincial government is not using any of the surplus to reduce actual government debt.
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