Now that we're out of recession, the threat of rising inflation, interest rates, and federal debt will increase. I say threat because it's not a guarantee, and is preventable if a government takes a pro-active as opposed to reactive approach to it.
What would be your proposals for a pro-active approach to fight these threats?
Personally, I could recommend the following:
Raise the gas tax or some other kind of resource tax. (One way of keeping inflation under control is to take money out of the economy by increasing government revenue but reducing its spending. A gas tax could help increase government revenue.) Also, a resource tax would promote more resource efficiency in businesses, efficiency helping to fight inflation in the long run (maybe not in ths boom, but possibly in a future boom) by reducing overhead costs and promoting energy efficiency and self-sustainability.
Reduce federal government spending in all areas least likely to hurt the most vulnerable members of Canadian society. This could include cutting federal spending on language training for federal public servants (how do the poor benefit from that?). Other areas might include spending on such non-essential services as 'arts and culture' funding. Military spending is a tough one. I might agree with it, but would have to consider it's potential effect on the soldiers in Afghanistan.
This combination of increased government revenue and reduced government spending coudl also help pay off the debt and keep interest rates down.
Promote more free labour-movement agreements with other countries so that when companies are hit by worker shortages, they have the option of hiring from abroad more easily rather than be forced to compete for scarce labour resources by raising salaries, leading to rising prices (what's the point of higher salaries if costs go up soon after?).
Reduce unnecessary overhead costs on companies. For example, some companies are required to guarantee bilingual access even when the market doesn't demand it. We could also consider requiring French-language labelling and packaging in Quebec and Labrador, and English outside, with bilingual labelling and packaging being optional. This would save overhead costs in the production of packages and labels, and would also reduce the cost of imports from the US, UK, etc. more easily available in English Canada, and the same for products from France, Belgium, Madagascar, etc. in Quebec. We could also remove the ban on measurements other than metric on Canadian packaging as long as the metric system is included and clearly indicated. This would likewise reduce some overhead costs in packaging for US imports.
Any other ideas?
What would be your proposals for a pro-active approach to fight these threats?
Personally, I could recommend the following:
Raise the gas tax or some other kind of resource tax. (One way of keeping inflation under control is to take money out of the economy by increasing government revenue but reducing its spending. A gas tax could help increase government revenue.) Also, a resource tax would promote more resource efficiency in businesses, efficiency helping to fight inflation in the long run (maybe not in ths boom, but possibly in a future boom) by reducing overhead costs and promoting energy efficiency and self-sustainability.
Reduce federal government spending in all areas least likely to hurt the most vulnerable members of Canadian society. This could include cutting federal spending on language training for federal public servants (how do the poor benefit from that?). Other areas might include spending on such non-essential services as 'arts and culture' funding. Military spending is a tough one. I might agree with it, but would have to consider it's potential effect on the soldiers in Afghanistan.
This combination of increased government revenue and reduced government spending coudl also help pay off the debt and keep interest rates down.
Promote more free labour-movement agreements with other countries so that when companies are hit by worker shortages, they have the option of hiring from abroad more easily rather than be forced to compete for scarce labour resources by raising salaries, leading to rising prices (what's the point of higher salaries if costs go up soon after?).
Reduce unnecessary overhead costs on companies. For example, some companies are required to guarantee bilingual access even when the market doesn't demand it. We could also consider requiring French-language labelling and packaging in Quebec and Labrador, and English outside, with bilingual labelling and packaging being optional. This would save overhead costs in the production of packages and labels, and would also reduce the cost of imports from the US, UK, etc. more easily available in English Canada, and the same for products from France, Belgium, Madagascar, etc. in Quebec. We could also remove the ban on measurements other than metric on Canadian packaging as long as the metric system is included and clearly indicated. This would likewise reduce some overhead costs in packaging for US imports.
Any other ideas?