OTTAWA SAYS DEFICIT TO HIT $50.2-BILLION
By David Akin
Calgary Herald
Canwest News Service
June 29, 2009
Reuters, Canada’s economy is in recovery mode, according to Prime
Minister Stephen Harper — partly, he says, because of his government’s
$62-billion "shot in the arm to the economy," medicine which will
give Canada its biggest-ever federal deficit of more than $50-billion.
The government says that, 10 weeks after the tabling of its 2009
budget, 80% of the measures in the its stimulus plan "are either
flowing, or there are commitments in place that will allow the funds
to flow to specific projects and initiatives."
"Some signs of stabilization have been appearing in the world economy,"
Mr. Harper said at a campaign-style event staged in Cambridge, Ont.,
to release the update. "The effects of the recession are beginning
to ease."
The 234-page Second Report to Canadians is published as part of
the commitment the government made to the Liberals in exchange for
that party’s support of the budget. The Liberal party was the only
opposition party that voted in favour of the budget and the government
stimulus plan.
Mr. Harper said that, in the 72 days since the government’s fiscal
year began on April 1, 3,000 job-creating projects have been approved.
He boasted that, when expressed as a percentage of gross domestic
product, Canada has more stimulus spending flowing faster than any
other G7 country.
Mr. Harper also said that more than 100,000 Canadians are participating
in federally funded work-sharing programs, designed to reduce job
losses, and that his government will spend an extra $5.5-billion this
year on all employment insurance programs.
He also said his government is "looking at more improvements" he will
announce this fall.
The opposition parties have demanded changes to EI programs as the
price for their continued support for Mr. Harper’s minority government.
Mr. Harper also warned Canadians that his stimulus spending plan will
result in a deficit this year of at least $50.2-billion, Canada’s
biggest ever.
"Our deficit will be significant but is affordable," Mr. Harper said.
Mr. Harper vowed not to raise taxes to pay off the deficit and said
it would be temporary.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank, for one, disagrees with Mr. Harper’s
assessment. It issued a report that said a deficit of nearly
$20-billion will continue to exist in 2014 and for years after that
unless the government raises taxes or makes deep spending cuts.
The last time Ottawa actually cut program spending was in 2005-06, the
result of Liberal Ralph Goodale’s last budget. Since the Conservatives
took office in 2006, federal program spending increased 7.5% in in
their first year, 6% in their second, and is estimated to have grown
by 2.1% in the fiscal year which ended April 30 and will grow by
nearly 18% in the current fiscal year.
Nonetheless, Mr. Harper, in his speech in Cambridge, warned Canadians
that the opposition parties would not only spend more but raise taxes
to do it.
"All the other parties in Parliament still believe, in their hearts,
in the old philosophy of tax and spend," Mr. Harper said. "Raising
taxes to pay for higher permanent government spending is a valid
political option. But it is one that our Conservative government will
not entertain."