Alternative budgets
OTTAWA—The federal government has the resources to maintain and build on the commitments made in the 2004-05 minority Parliament and use upcoming surpluses to move forward on a progressive agenda, says the 2006 Alternative Federal Budget.
“Ottawa currently has sizable surpluses to deliver the programs and services Canadians want and need,” says CCPA Senior Economist Ellen Russell. “However, this historic opportunity will be lost if the Conservatives’ tax cuts leave the cupboard bare.”
Look through the smokescreen created by Premier Dalton McGuinty's $23 billion gap campaign and you see a provincial government that is in denial; one that has not been prepared to tackle the fundamental problems for which his government inherited responsibility when it took office.
If you only read the headlines, the record looks promising. The McGuinty government has increased funding significantly for health and education — two of its major priorities. But even that has not bought the real change that Ontario needs.
TORONTO— The Ontario Alternative Budget for 2006 released today by the Alternative Budget Working Group of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives takes on poverty and income inequality as its central focus.
The Alternative Budget shines a spotlight on the McGuinty government’s abject failure to address the financial crises for Ontario’s least advantaged citizens left behind by the previous government.
Despite well-publicized spending commitments and a robust provincial economy, not all Saskatchewan people are benefiting and many people have been hurt by the government’s failure to adequately fund public services, according to the Saskatchewan Alternative Budget released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The Alternative budget sets out a bold, but responsible program for the re-investment in three key areas: economic security, health care, and education and says no to decreases in corporate tax rates.