National Office

Join us in Ottawa Thursday, April 25 for a forum on the changing nature of federal budgets featuring former Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page.

The Budget in Focus: A forum on the changing nature of federal budgets 

Thursday, April 25th, 2013
9am to Noon
Sheraton Hotel, Penthouse suite, 17th floor, 150 Albert Street, Ottawa

Schedule:

9:00 am: Introductions (by David Macdonald, CCPA)

9:15am - 10:30am: Kevin Page, former Parliamentary Budget Officer

Speaking about his experience as Canada’s first Parliamentary Budget Officer, how he envisioned the new office, the challenges he faced, and the future of the PBO.

10:30am - 10:45am: Coffee break

10:45 – Noon: Panel discussion on Budget 2013: An evaluation of Budget 2013’s primary measures and how it addresses (or not) the big macro-economic challenges facing Canada.

Moderator: Althia Raj, Ottawa Bureau Chief, Huffington Post Canada

Panelists:

• Peter Devries, Consultant in fiscal policy and co-author of 3dPolicy.ca blog
• Mario Seccareccia, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Ottawa
• Sylvain Schetagne, National Director of Social and Economic Policy, Canadian Labour Congress
• David Macdonald, Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Event poster (click to view larger image):

Featuring Kevin Page, former Parliamentary Budget Officer

Thursday, April 25th, 2013
9am to Noon
Sheraton Hotel, Penthouse suite, 17th floor, 150 Albert Street, Ottawa

Tickets are available for $20. Click here to purchase your ticket online. Tickets can also be purchased by phone at 613-563-1341 ext 312. There will be no tickets sold at the door.

Schedule:

9:00 am: Introductions (by David Macdonald, CCPA)

9:15am - 10:30am: Kevin Page, former Parliamentary Budget Officer

Speaking about his experience as Canada’s first Parliamentary Budget Officer, how he envisioned the new office, the challenges he faced, and the future of the PBO.

10:30am - 10:45am: Coffee break

10:45 – Noon: Panel discussion on Budget 2013: An evaluation of Budget 2013’s primary measures and how it addresses (or not) the big macro-economic challenges facing Canada.

Moderator: Althia Raj, Ottawa Bureau Chief, Huffington Post Canada

Panelists:

• Peter Devries, Consultant in fiscal policy and co-author of 3dPolicy.ca blog
• Mario Seccareccia, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Ottawa
• Sylvain Schetagne, National Director of Social and Economic Policy, Canadian Labour Congress
• David Macdonald, Senior Economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

In recent years, Canada has seen an explosion of low-skilled temporary foreign workers. Though outsourcing is not new, the practice is under renewed scrutiny—especially given the recent alleged in-sourcing of workers at RBC and the HD Mining case in British Columbia. On this morning’s episode of CBC Radio’s The Current, CCPA Senior Economist Armine Yalnizyan does a great job of contextualizing the outsourcing problem in Canada and its troubling consequences, including a disappearing middle class.

Listen to Armine, here. 

After four austerity budgets and lots of hide and seek, there are finally some answers about what services federal departments are going to cut. CCPA’s Senior Economist David Macdonald has examined over 180 departmental Reports on Plans and Priorities in order to estimate employment cuts down to the program level and determine where federal spending cuts hit the hardest. He finds that cuts have disproportionately focused on service delivery, and that the total number of federal public service jobs cut over the entire austerity period (March 2012 to March 2016) will be 28,700—with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada experiencing the largest loss of positions. By 2016, the total number of people working for the federal government will have fallen by 8%, almost double the 4.8% figure reported in Budget 2012.

Read the full analysis here.