OTTAWA—Today’s federal budget looks more like an attempt to stay in power than a fiscal remedy for the real problems facing Canadians, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), an independent think tank.
The CCPA’s leading economists find this year’s federal budget obscures the true cost of the federal government's plan to balance the books.
Government finance
OTTAWA—The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) urges Ottawa to address Canadians’ real financial worries rather than sideline them in the political bluster brewing over a federal budget and possible election.
With the release of its annual Alternative Federal Budget (AFB), the CCPA proposes a federal budget that connects with what matters to Canadians: post-recession job and household debt worries, pension concerns, worsening income inequality and climate change.
OTTAWA – Le Centre canadien de politiques alternatives exhorte Ottawa à répondre aux préoccupations financières réelles des Canadiens au lieu de les laisser tomber dans la tempête politique qui se prépare à cause du budget fédéral et d’élections possibles.
This release is comprised of three documents:
This study examines Canada's military spending and finds it is higher now than at any time since the end of the Second World War, thanks to twelve years of budget increases. The study argues that Canada could make a much greater contribution to global security and humanitarian action by shifting resources to non-military security efforts and peacekeeping operations.
OTTAWA—Twelve years of budget increases have left Canadian military spending higher than at any time since the end of the Second World War, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
According to the study, by Bill Robinson, Senior Advisor with the Rideau Institute, Canada will spend at least $22.3 billion on its military forces in 2010-11—an increase of 54% since 9/11.
“Canada is the 13th largest military spender in the world and the 6th largest within the 26-member NATO alliance,” says Robinson.
In recent months the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has been calling for immediate action to eliminate provincial budget deficits. In 2010, for example, it demanded action to deal with excess spending and a serious deficit problem, and proposed a five-point plan that included government action to impose a two year wage and benefits freeze for public servants, a halt to discretionary capital projects, an “all-party committee to review all expenditures” and find efficiencies.
OTTAWA – Si le gouvernement fédéral veut être pris au sérieux lorsqu’il parle de contrôler les dépenses, il doit examiner d’un œil critique l’explosion des coûts d’impartition, affirme-t-on dans une nouvelle étude dévoilée aujourd’hui par le Centre canadien de politiques alternatives.
If the federal government wants to get serious about spending controls, it needs to look critically at its ballooning outsourcing costs. This study finds that over the past five years, personnel outsourcing costs have risen 79%. While federal departments have had their budgets capped, expenditures on outside consultants have not been touched and remain above $1 billion a year.