Alternative budgets

Subscribe to Alternative budgets
OTTAWA--While Paul Martin points to a strong record of economic growth and rising employment during his tenure as Finance Minister, his overall economic record is flawed when viewed from the perspective of working families, according to a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
OTTAWA--On the eve of the Speech from the Throne, Canada finds itself at an historic moment: will Paul Martin as Prime Minister be any different than Paul Martin as Finance Minister--The Man Who Killed Big Government? Paul Martin's Permanent Revolution, by economist and CCPA Research Fellow Armine Yalnizyan, details how Paul Martin's reign as the federal Finance Minister brought about lasting change by shrinking the scope and role of government, neutering funding mechanisms, and deeply cutting spending, even for programs the government was committed to providing.
OTTAWA--Every year since the elimination of the federal budget deficit in 1997, the government's record of forecasting its own surplus has been abysmal--and this year is no different, according to a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Crying Wolf Again? A Pre-Budget Assessment of Federal Finances, an Alternative Federal Budget technical paper by CCPA economist Ellen Russell, foresees a budget surplus of $8.3 billion for 2003/04, dwarfing the $2.3 billion forecast by the Martin government.
TORONTO--The 2004-05 Ontario Alternative Budget advocates new investments of $14.7 billion over four years to address the serious decline in the state of Ontario's public services. "The public services we built over generations are at a point of real danger," states economist Hugh Mackenzie, co-chair of the OAB working group, "The basics we used to take for granted -- clean water, abundant energy -- have been found wanting."