Apr 23 2021 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — On April 19t Minister Freeland delivered her long awaited budget- the government’s first budget in two years. By some measures, it was an impressive document: 740 pages long making it the longest budget document ever. The budget can best be described as a “big announcement” budget with proposed spending initiatives sprinkled around to everyone and […]
Apr 12 2021 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — Getting a vaccination probably remains the top priority of most Canadians especially in the middle of a very scary third wave generated by COVID variants. Notwithstanding a new stay at home order, there is some emerging hope that by the summer the situation will be much better and by September anyone who wants a vaccine […]
Mar 24 2021 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — The federal budget is now officially scheduled for April 19. This is a critical budget for the government because expectations (and hopes) among Canadians are very high and rising. Though recent polls show that a majority of Canadians believe that a Liberal government would do the best job in managing the government’s post-COVID finances, all this could change quickly if the budget fails to live up to growing hopes for a post-COVID future.
Mar 7 2021 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — In Mid-January, the Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, announced new budget consultations with Canadians to assist her in preparing her spring budget. According to Minister Freeland, the 2021 budget “will be among the most significant of our lifetime.” We have no idea what a “significant” budget means and we doubt that the Finance Minister does as […]
Dec 7 2020 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — After listening to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and reading the 233-page fall Economic Statement (Update), one cannot help but wonder why the Minister delivered such an Update. Given that we are still in the pandemic and with all its uncertainties why bother at all? How much reliability can you attach to an economic and fiscal […]
Aug 28 2020 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — In the July 8, 2020 “Economic and Fiscal Snapshot”, the Government presented revised fiscal projections for 2019-20 and 2020-21 only. It stated that “given the unprecedented degree of uncertainty clouding the economic outlook, providing an economic and fiscal forecast beyond 2021 with an appropriate degree of confidence is not possible at this time and would […]
Jul 11 2020 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — The government has been under pressure for some time to provide an economic and fiscal update. Everyone was aware of the huge increase in spending that had been incurred to assist Canadians during the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact it would have on the deficit for this fiscal year. The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) had […]
May 6 2020 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — The economy is in a downfall. Federal and provincial governments have shut down the economy to contain a deadly virus. Businesses have closed, jobs have been lost and unemployment has soared. This year, real GDP could fall by 10 to 15%, or even more, which is larger than the decline in output during the Great […]
Mar 20 2020 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — Right now, federal, provincial, and municipal governments, the private sector, and all Canadians are implementing a counter-cyclical policy aimed at “shutting down the economy” in order to halt the COVID-19 virus. Successful implementation of this policy is critical to eventually restarting the economy. This is true of fiscal costs will be temporary and manageable. They […]
Mar 16 2020 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — In 2008, the global economy was shocked into a recession by a meltdown in global financial markets. G-20 leaders reacted quickly to the deteriorating economic situation with a coordinated fiscal policy response. The International Monetary Fund encouraged those countries that had the fiscal flexibility to implement fiscal measures amounting to 2% of the their economies. […]
Mar 12 2020 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — Early this week the Prime Minister announced that new policy measures to address the COVID-19 virus would be released on Wednesday. Expectations were high that he would respond with a substantial package of policy initiatives to support Canadians and the economy. But this didn’t happen. Instead he announced a $1 billion package (.05% of GDP) […]
Mar 11 2020 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — In his press conference on Monday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau stated that there was sufficient flexibility in his fiscal framework to address the fiscal impact of the coronavirus and the dramatic drop in oil prices. But how much flexibility does he have, especially when he maintains that the federal debt to gross domestic product (GDP) […]
Dec 17 2019 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — The Minister of Finance presented an Economic and Fiscal Update (Update) at a press conference on Monday. The Finance Minister had waited for Parliament to adjourn for the holidays before presenting his Update. The press conference lasted about 30 minutes; so much for accountability and transparency. A lot has changed over the last 30 years […]
Oct 15 2019 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — If deficit elimination were so easy, then why haven’t there been more years of balanced budgets or surpluses? In the over fifty years between 1966-67 and 2018-19, the federal budget showed a surplus in only 12 years; in 1969-70 and between 1997-98 and 2007-08. The record in other advanced countries isn’t any better. The fact […]
Oct 13 2019 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — Mr. Scheer finally released the Conservative platform on Friday afternoon. On the front cover, there should have been pictures of Stephen Harper, Doug Ford, and Jason Kenney. What Mr. Sheer and these three gentlemen have in common is that they hate deficits, no matter what their cause. Mr. Scheer is promising to eliminate the deficit […]