This might be the stupidest bill Conservatives will table this session

Published April 8, 2015

“Foolish.” “Thoroughly empty.” “Meaningless.” Those are just some of the adjectives used by experts to describe Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s new balanced budget legislation announced Wednesday at Toronto’s Economic Club. This is supposed to commit the federal government to balanced budgets except under “extraordinary circumstances” — like war or natural disaster. Except that it doesn’t. Even […]

How much does it cost to snub Parliament?

Published December 18, 2013

When Conservatives decided to forgo parliamentary tradition and release their fall economic and fiscal update last month in Edmonton in front of business executives instead of in Ottawa before MPs, the party of “fiscal responsibility” coughed up plenty of cash for the dog and pony show. The luncheon with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was “hosted […]

Nice try, Mr. Minister

Published November 13, 2013

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty spun a good story this week with the release of the government’s economic and fiscal update. The government even produced a short video, narrated by Flaherty, about how Canada is doing. Here’s a reality check on some of Flaherty’s key talking points. Photo: bcgovphotos. Used under a Creative Commons BY 2.0 […]

Inconvenient numbers bust government’s fiscal update spin

Published November 12, 2013

The Conservative government is up to its old tricks: using selective statistics and incomplete numbers to talk up its economic and fiscal record. Check out how these key lines in the annual Update of Economic and Fiscal Projections, released Tuesday, don’t really hold up. Exhibit 1: Canada’s job creation numbers “Over 1 million more Canadians […]

Conservative priorities by the numbers

Published November 6, 2013

The Conservative government is desperate to put the Senate scandal behind it so Stephen Harper can talk up the government’s priorities. There’s no better place to see what those priorities are than in budget choices. Spending totals are in for last year, so you can see what counts as good spending, what gets cuts and […]

What to put on the chopping block?

Published October 29, 2013

Conservatives from the Quebec riding of Beauce have come up with a plan to gut social programs, and they want their party to get behind the idea at the policy convention. After the government balances its budget, set for 2015-2016, they want to freeze spending at $300 billion in today’s dollars through 2020-21. Let’s put […]