Well, at least it's a short trip to the Pole. And rumour has it there's a fat guy with milk and cookies there.
Well, today is the Liberal/NDP Non-Coalition Coalition Budget Day!
- Thread starter Ron in Regina
- Start date
The Carney government tried to inoculate itself against charges of austerity on Wednesday as François-Philippe Champagne promised “sustained funding” for gender equality programs. Phew! But what the finance minister’s right hand giveth, his left hand is set to taketh away in next week’s budget.
As the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives identified in a new research paper, the “sacrifices” Carney referred in his recent speech at the University of Ottawa will likely be made by stealth. Rather than announcing major cuts, the left-wing think tank warned that 32 of 84 departments could meet their government-ordered 15 per cent budget cuts by simply not renewing programs that are due to “sunset.” Another 20 departments could reduce their spending by five per cent by sunsetting.
If those programs are not renewed, all staff positions and contracts simply end.
apple.news
The most exposed department is Women and Gender Equality, which has very few permanent programs. Hence, the reason why the minister, Rechie Valdez, looked so relieved when she announced more than $600 million in long-term funding for her department on Wednesday.
But the departments of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Environment, Transport and Immigration, and the Public Health Agency, may not be so lucky.
Spending on Indigenous issues, which has quadrupled in the last decade, may be particularly vulnerable.
“Canadians should brace themselves for for one of the most draconian federal budgets in history,” wrote the think-tank report’s authors David Macdonald and Erin Mcintosh.
The bone Champagne threw to the Liberal party’s progressive wing on Wednesday was likely considered a necessary evil. The minority government can’t afford any of its squeamish MPs going wobbly when the budget comes to a vote.
apple.news
The prospect of the government losing a confidence vote is not out of the question, though it was noticeable that the NDP’s interim leader, Don Davies, did not say his seven MPs would vote against the financial plan, even as he said they would not support an austerity budget. Leaderless, penniless and mired in the polls, discretion would appear to be the better part of valour. A few discrete New Democrat abstentions would be enough to see the budget pass through the House of Commons.
As the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives identified in a new research paper, the “sacrifices” Carney referred in his recent speech at the University of Ottawa will likely be made by stealth. Rather than announcing major cuts, the left-wing think tank warned that 32 of 84 departments could meet their government-ordered 15 per cent budget cuts by simply not renewing programs that are due to “sunset.” Another 20 departments could reduce their spending by five per cent by sunsetting.
If those programs are not renewed, all staff positions and contracts simply end.
Federal government's plan to reduce public service will include layoffs — National Post
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne seemed to confirm the plan when he said that Ottawa would implement 'workforce adjustments'
But the departments of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Environment, Transport and Immigration, and the Public Health Agency, may not be so lucky.
Spending on Indigenous issues, which has quadrupled in the last decade, may be particularly vulnerable.
“Canadians should brace themselves for for one of the most draconian federal budgets in history,” wrote the think-tank report’s authors David Macdonald and Erin Mcintosh.
The bone Champagne threw to the Liberal party’s progressive wing on Wednesday was likely considered a necessary evil. The minority government can’t afford any of its squeamish MPs going wobbly when the budget comes to a vote.
John Ivison: Watch for Carney to deliver a ‘draconian’ budget by stealth — National Post
The idea that the Liberals might take a hatchet to their treasured social programs seems counterintuitive, but that's where the savings are