Budget – Page 2 – David Akin’s On The Hill

Once, Stephen Harper said "We believe in honest budgeting"

In the midst of my summer break, I thought I’d catch up on some of my work related e-mail and found this note from July 22:

Statement by Sonia L’Heureux, Parliamentary Budget Officer (interim)

In April 2013, I sought information necessary to undertake analysis into the 2012 federal budget. That analysis was requested by a parliamentarian pursuant to s. 79.2 of the Parliament of Canada Act. The information necessary for this purpose was requested from government departments and agencies. The first deadline for providing it came and went, and the majority of departments and agencies did not comply with the totality of my request. I informed the Speaker of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Commons. They asked me to write to the non-compliant departments and agencies again, requesting them to provide the information. That second deadline of July 19, 2013 came and went, and I have yet to be provided with all the information that I need to undertake the requested analysis. If and when I am provided with it, I look forward to performing the analysis and, thereby, discharging my legislative mandate.

I am reminded that in June I blogged the following:

Continue reading Once, Stephen Harper said "We believe in honest budgeting"

Ottawa's spending plan: Winners, losers, watchdogs – the highlights

For the fiscal year that begins on April 1, 2013, the federal government plans to spend $252.54 billion. The most recent estimate for what it will spend in the current fiscal year, which ends March 30, 2013, is $259 billion. Now, the federal budget for 2013-2014 has yet to be tabled — it likely won’t be published until late March — and there is highly likely that the budget will override the current spending plan of $252 billion. It could be less but it could be more.

In any event, if the government follows through and sticks to spending $252.5 billion next year, it will have reduced spending next year by $6.5 billion or about 2.5 per cent.

Here’s some other numbers found in the spending plan published yeterday (see the note at the bottom of this post about the source of these numbers): Continue reading Ottawa's spending plan: Winners, losers, watchdogs – the highlights

Tax breaks to save heritage assets? What about our national parks?

Conservative MP Gord Brown — Leeds-Grenville MP Gord Brown speaks to members of the Brockville and District Chamber of Commerce during Thursday’s MP Breakfast at the Brockville Country Club. (RONALD ZAJAC/The Recorder and Times)

MPs have and will continue to criss-cross the country soliciting ideas that might make it into Jim Flaherty’s 2013 budget. (If you’re in St. John’s, NL Friday morning, you can bend the ear of the junior minister of finance, Ted Menzies at one of these consultations) One thing we know for sure about Flaherty’s budget: There ain’t a lot money that can be spent on new programs. But what about tax breaks that would spur spending on public assets, assets the government would normally assume financial responsibility but for which, in a time of austerity, it doesn’t necessarily have the ability to do so? Continue reading Tax breaks to save heritage assets? What about our national parks?

Is it personal between Joe Oliver and Megan Leslie? Leslie says: "Yeah."

The NDP’s Megan Leslie reviews the spring sitting in Parliament while the National Citizens Coalition’s Stephen Taylor gets asked: Is it time the Conservatives took the New Democrats — ahead or tied with the Tories in several recent polls — more seriously? Continue reading Is it personal between Joe Oliver and Megan Leslie? Leslie says: "Yeah."

Conservative David Wilks: "One MP is not going to make a difference"

Like all MPs, Conservative David Wilks is back in his riding this week, attending to constituency work and meeting with voters.

On Tuesday morning, in a coffee shop in Revelstoke, B.C., in his riding of Kootenay-Columbia in the province’s southeast corner he met some constituents who told him they didn’t much like Bill C-38, the government’s controversial 425-page omnibus budget bill. The budget bill, you’ll recall, introduces changes to everything from the age at which Canadians will qualify for old age security payments to the process for environmental assessments of resource projects.

One constituents filmed a 12-minute exchange between Wilks and these voters and put it on YouTube. It’s remarkable viewing. Continue reading Conservative David Wilks: "One MP is not going to make a difference"

Ottawa spends — and spends, and spends, a spends.

MPs are not in the House of Commons this week. This is a “break week” or “riding week.” It is also the kind of week when government MPs run about the country handing out cheques. I’ve been tracking these ceremonies ever since the last federal election. I do this through a real-time Twitter project known as @OttawaSpends and, from time-to-time I summarize the data here.

It is now just 2 pm Ottawa time on this first business day of this break week and, so far, government MPs have been been busy with 12 announcements in various parts of the country during which more than $101 million was committed, spent or celebrated. Continue reading Ottawa spends — and spends, and spends, a spends.

Poll: Should government cut the civil service? Are you prepared to do without?

Abacus Data went into the field to sound out Canadians about some of the choices the government is facing with this spring’s federal budget. Tonight on the Daily Brief, Abacus CEO David Coletto gave us the numbers on what he found. Turns out, Canadians want the government to fight the deficit. But we’re not unanimous about how to go about that. You can bet the government itself is in the field with focus groups and polls testing out their ideas on the same issue. Continue reading Poll: Should government cut the civil service? Are you prepared to do without?

Conservatives call for tax cuts; increased military spending

I start reporting on Canadian federal politics Monday. The reporters in the Parliamentary bureau at CTV National News have to cover all aspects of politics and the government but each has some specific beat responsibilities. Mine include the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) and the Supreme Court. For that reason, you’re likely to see more items here about those two institutions than others. You shouldn’t mistake the frequency of posts for an endorsement of either.
I hope the writings here will reflect what I think the core mission of any reporter on any beat ought to be and that is to bear witness.
So, with that preamble, let’s get to it.

Monte Solberg, (left) the CPC Finance Critic, has published an open letter to Finance Minister Ralph Goodale, setting out his party’s goals for the annual budget process and reminding Minister Goodale about some of the commitments the Liberal government agreed to in order to have the Speech from the Throne adopted.

. . . the Conservative Party of Canada believes that the time is now for a major assault on the key elements I have outlined in this letter—first, significant tax cuts for working Canadians; second, measures that will enhance business incentives to innovate and invest in Canada; and, finally a boost to the spending that you have promised to help bring Canada’s military to a more effective level. And, just as we argued during the last election campaign, we are confident that our finances can afford it.

The Conservatives are worried that the Liberals will increase program spending.
Mr. Solberg references a recent report by Don Drummond, the chief economist of TD Bank.
In that report, Mr. Drummond argues that “the tax burden on individuals must … be reduced.” In Mr. Drummond’s analysis, “we found that Canadian households indeed have cause for concern – their economic well being has not advanced for many years. This adds urgency to the need to bolster Canada’s lackluster productivity growth and serves as notice to Canadian governments to lighten the tax burden.”
Mr. Drummond’s is an influential voice in policy circles in Ottawa. That’s because, first, all chief economists at Canada’s big banks, including Mr. Drummond, are routinely consulted by top Bank of Canada and Ministry of Finance officials. Second, Mr. Drummond had a long career as a Finance Ministry official, rising to Assistant Deputy Minister in charge of the federal budget planning process.