(Vancouver) The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says the Finance Minister continues to adopt a Paul Martin approach to budgeting, low-balling his revenue estimates in order to garner praise later. "While he has revised the projected deficit for 2002/03 down slightly, we believe he continues to overstate the size of this year's deficit by about $1 billion," says Seth Klein, the Centre's BC Director. "The continued inclusion of a massive $750 million forecast allowance means the Finance Minister will surely beat his targets."
Government finance
(Vancouver) In spite of superficial changes, the 2003 BC Budget moves ahead with the government's plan of deep spending cuts, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
(Vancouver) Gary Collins tabled his first balanced budget as Finance Minister today, but his projections for 2004/05 leave little room to move.
"This budget is balanced, but on a razor's edge," says Marc Lee, an economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. "If there are any economic shocks -- such as a repeat of last year's forest fires, or if planned changes to federal equalization payments go ahead -- we'll be back in the red."
Ottawa: Alternative Federal Budget 2000 today released its Alternative Fiscal and Economic Update: Policy Options for the Federal Government.
The main findings of the report are as follows: Under reasonable economic assumptions, the federal government will generate a final fiscal surplus of over $6 billion in the current (1999-2000) fiscal year, and almost $12 billion in the fiscal year covered by Paul Martin's upcoming budget (2000-2001).
OTTAWA--An Alternative Economic Update released today shows that between the 1997 election and fiscal 2001, the Liberals will have spent only 2 per cent of the fiscal dividend on social investment, compared to 98 per cent on tax cuts and deficit reduction.
This runs counter to pre-1997 election promises to spend 50 per cent of the fiscal dividend on social programs.
The coalition releasing the report, entitled "Reality Check: An Alternative Economic Update," says the Liberals have a lot to make up for.
OTTAWA--The federal government could allocate at least $10 billion per year to new spending priorities in each of the next two fiscal years, on top of additional monies required for core EI benefits and extra military and security costs, and still balance its budget. This is the conclusion of an economic and fiscal analysis published today by the Alternative Federal Budget Project in the run-up to next week's federal budget.