The McGuinty government has been using the report of the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services, known as the Drummond report, to short-circuit an open, public debate about the value of public services and what Ontario needs to do to improve and protect them. This paper exposes the government’s strategy and critically reviews the Drummond report’s key premise: namely, that Ontario cannot afford to maintain its current level of public services because the province faces a dire fiscal crisis.
Government finance
Last week’s provincial budget falsely claims that the proverbial cupboard is bare and that nothing can be done to meet any of BC’s most pressing social, economic and environmental challenges.
Cette étude a crée trois scénarios possibles pour examiner l’impact des deux prochaines vagues de compressions et il prétend qu’entre 60 100 et 68 300 emplois seront perdus à travers le Canada. L’étude soulève des préoccupations importantes sur le refus du gouvernement de divulguer la nature des compressions et son manque de transparence sur ce qui sera touché et pourquoi.
OTTAWA – Les compressions au niveau fédéral annoncées dans les budgets de 2010 et 2011 auront comme conséquence des pertes de plus de 60 000 emplois selon une étude publiée aujourd’hui par le Centre canadien des politiques alternatives (CCPA). Toutes compressions additionnelles dans le prochain budget entraîneront des pertes d’emplois supplémentaires.
OTTAWA—Federal cutbacks announced in the 2010 and 2011 budgets will result in more than 60,000 job losses, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Any additional cuts in the upcoming federal budget would result in even more job losses.
This study explores the impact of the federal government’s 2010 and 2011 budget cutbacks and finds between 60,100 and 68,300 jobs will be lost as a result. The author also identifies areas that are already seeing cuts and may see more of the same, and raises serious concerns about the government's lack of transparency about what will be axed, and why.
Finance Minister Graham Steele is asking Nova Scotians to pull in our belts to help the government overcome the deficit and pay down the debt. It is only fair therefore, that corporations who have been the recipients of government largesse be expected to go on a diet as well. Government gifts to corporations come in two main forms: tax expenditures and outright subsidies.
Nova Scotians are again invited to help the provincial government “return to balance”, i.e., reduce the province’s deficit and debt. We are reminded that “if we don’t want tax increases, we have to accept spending cuts” and warned that the annual interest charges paid by the government are $1 billion on about $14 billion of debt. Before we can have an informed conversation about the budget, the public needs more facts and a refresher on principles.
Facts
In Nova Scotia, 75,000 people—including children, people with disabilities, seniors, parents, and single people— live in circumstances that compromise their health because they are deprived of basic needs such as adequate food, clothing, and housing.
Poverty takes its toll on individuals, families and communities, but failure to address poverty costs us all. Higher levels of crime and school dropout rates, poor health and the lost productivity associated with poverty costs over $1.5 billion dollars annually.
One of the NS NDP’s election promises was to institute an 8% energy tax rebate. In an interview in the initial weeks of the new government – two years ago in September – Premier Darrell Dexter suggested that this rebate was important because ‘the necessities of life should not be taxed’.
Since then, the NDP government raised the HST and raised the rebate to 10% for all Nova Scotians. Electricity is indeed a necessity, but whether basic necessities are taxed is beside the point. The point really is whether basic necessities are affordable to all who need them.