Provincial revenue from oil will be $791 million less than forecast in the spring budget, according to the provincial budget update. A few other expenses are less than forecast and some revenues are up. All told, the provincial deficit is now forecast to be almost $1.0 billion. That compares to
Continue readingTag: public spending
The Sir Robert Bond Papers: Government Spending and the Economy – Again #nlpoli
A post last week offered a quick confirmation that, as finance minister Ross Wiseman said, provincial government spending accounts for about 30% of the gross domestic product measured as spending. A couple of people on Twitter took issue with that idea, apparently. They also took issue, as it seems, with
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Spending Comparisons #nlpoli
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) released its annual summary of health care spending health care last week. This is a pretty basic collection of numbers that show how much money we spend on health care, whether it is from provincial, federal, or private sources. The report made the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Double-down Locke #nlpoli
“I didn’t see this coming,” Memorial University economist Wade Locke told the Telegram’s James McLeod the other day. Locke was talking about the dramatic drop in oil prices over the past week and a half. The day before, Locke was on VOCM’s morning talk show dismissing this low oil price
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Whizzo Quality Assortment #nlpoli
On the outside, the spring budget for 2014 looks like a delicious assortment of goodies for everyone. You can tell it is delectable because everyone is shouting for joy and drooling over their good fortune. There is not a single group who have had their hands out for government money
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Principle, Parliament, and Money #nlpoli
The House of Assembly unanimously voted in favour of a bill on Tuesday that gives the government permission to spend $2.8 billion as part of next years budget. Officially, it is called interim supply. It’s “interim” because the bill fills in the period between the 2013 budget – the last
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: How do they run things? Budget Lead-Up #nlpoli
Finance minister Charlene Johnson will read the new provincial budget speech on Thursday. In keeping with the provincial Conservative tradition, though, they’ve been announcing bits and pieces of the budget already. On Monday, for example, justice minister Darin King announced that the new budget would contain money for 20 new
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Budget consultations and other political insanity #nlpoli
This year it is Charlene Johnson’s turn to host a series of meetings across the province that the provincial Conservatives cynically tout as a way for people to have some input into the provincial budget. It’s cynical because – as the Conservatives know – the major budget decisions are already
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Selling prosperity in a time of austerity: Budget days in BC and Quebec
Two very different provincial governments tabled their budgets this week. The freshly-elected BC Liberals and the seemingly election-ready Parti Quebecois both delivered what they termed “responsible” budgets. While the two governments identify with opposing ends of the political spectrum and face distinct political climates, these differences did not prevent their
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Vibrant Unsustainable Super Energy Debt Warehouse #nlpoli
The Conservatives used to say that Newfoundland and Labrador was eastern North America’s energy warehouse. Once Danny Williams ran for the hills and left Kathy Dunderdale in charge, she kicked everything up a notch. Energy warehouse was too plain for Kathy, whose party ran on the slogan “New Energy” in
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Could be right. Could be wrong. #nlpoli
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 readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: August is Money Month #nlpoli
August is polling month for Corporate Research Associates. In the first 15 days of the month, the provincial government announcement machinery has been running in overdrive. Realistically, though, there have only been 10 working days if you pluck out weekends and Regatta Day,when the provincial government head office in St.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Oil Revenues, Surpluses, and Deficits #nlpoli
The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour hired the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives to issue a report on the upcoming provincial budget that basically says all the things that labour federation boss Lana Payne has been tweeting for weeks. Here’s what the report’s author said in a news release
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Structural Versus Cyclical: a quick look #nlpoli
Is the government facing a structural or cyclical deficit? Good question. Their economist says it is a structural problem but his comments to the Telegram on March 13 suggest he is approaching the problem as if it would sort itself out. The whole structural versus cyclical question hinges in part
Continue readingArt Threat: Canadian gov’t approves filming immigration raid, deportation process for reality TV
The Canadian government has approved what appears to be the crass exploitation of human suffering for entertainment. In a new low, Safety Minister Vic Toews approved the filming of an immigration enforcement raid at an East Vancouver construction site for a reality TV show. In the raid, workers were arrested
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Wrong Tool #nlpoli
About two thirds of the people in the province who file tax returns earn less than $35,000 a year before taxes. It’s the kind of detail that you cannot banish from your mind when you read about the politically popular economist Wade Locke. The guy who directly and indirectly helped
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: More to it than oil prices #nlpoli
Politicians spent a few hours this week harrumphing about the impact falling oil prices might have on the provincial budget this year. The problem for the provincial government is not whether they got the price of oil right in their budget. They’ve been underestimating for years. This year might be
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: HCCSJ operational review a decade later #nlpoli
Talk of financial problems at Eastern Health brought to mind an operational review of the former Health Care Corporation of St. John’s, completed by the Hay Group and released in May 2002. Go back to the official record of the House of Assembly – Hansard – and you’ll quickly be
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Province sinks more into inflatable shelter company #nlpoli
The provincial government is giving $50,000 to a company in Grand bank that makes inflatable shelters for industrial and emergency use, according to a news release issued Friday. Dynamic Air Shelters Ltd. will [use the money to] engage the services of Advanta Industrial Design Group Inc. to conduct staff training
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