Articles by C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries

Mar 28 2017 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Newswatch — In its first report, released last October, the Finance Minister’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth recommended the creation of an independent “Canadian Infrastructure Bank (CIB)”. In his fall economic and fiscal update, the Finance Minister supported the Advisory Council’s recommendation, saying that that this represented “a great opportunity for the government to leverage its investments […]

Mar 23 2017 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — National Post — Last Wednesday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau delivered the government’s second budget. For weeks before the budget, the government had been preparing the public for a budget that would not include any new spending or ambitious policy initiatives. In addition, recognizing worsening global growth prospects and the complete “mystery” as to what the Trump government might […]

Aug 16 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — Toronto Star — The economy and jobs have always been the priority election issues for most Canadians. Today, with the possibility that the economy could be in a technical recession (two quarters of negative growth), that’s especially true. Canadians have every right to be concerned. The economy has been seriously underperforming for the past seven years and there’s […]

Jul 29 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — Toronto Star — In the fall of 2008, private sector economists were forecasting that the Canadian economy was already in a recession due to the financial crisis. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his finance minister, the late Jim Flaherty, ignored these warnings and told Canadians there was nothing to worry about. The prime minister even advised Canadians that […]

Apr 28 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — In the days since Finance Minister Joe Oliver emerged from his winter den to deliver a long-delayed budget, members of Ottawa’s pundit corps have been falling over each other trying to describe the Harper government’s fiscal platform as a masterstroke of political tactics — a ‘clever’ bit of election-year maneuvering meant to paint the New […]

Apr 22 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — Finance Magician Joe Oliver did the expected, pulling a handful of rabbits out of his hat to achieve the long-promised balanced budget for 2015-16. “Mission accomplished” for the Conservatives? Not quite. Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be happy. Finance Minister Joe Oliver will be happy, as will every member of the Conservative caucus. Most importantly, […]

Apr 14 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — Nobody ever gives Joe Oliver credit for his sense of humour. But the speech he gave to the Economic Club of Canada last week has to rank among the best stand-up routines in Canadian comedy history. The punchline, of course, was the Finance minister’s vow to introduce balanced budget legislation, to fulfil a commitment made […]

Apr 2 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — It’s been like some strange political pastiche of Hinterlands Who’s Who: The Canadian finance minister … a shy, reclusive creature who nests in the oilsands and tends to hibernate whenever the price of oil drops below $70. Joe Oliver is expected to come out of his cloister Thursday morning with a promised “announcement” at the […]

Mar 5 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — It was only eight weeks ago — January 13, to be precise — that Joe Oliver announced he was postponing the budget until sometime after April 1. His excuse: Rapidly falling oil prices were creating an unusually high degree of budget uncertainty and he needed more time to assess. The excuse was, of course, nonsense. […]

Feb 24 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — Politicians don’t like talking about taxes much. Spending taxes — they love doing that, and they love getting credit for it. But when it comes to talking about how we collect the money that runs the state, they cling to slogans — “putting money back into taxpayers’ pockets”, for example. And there’s no question that, […]

Feb 19 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — “Our Government’s sound economic management and unwavering commitment to balance the budget this year — while creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity for Canadians — has resulted in a resilient economic performance in a challenging global economy. As Canada is doing with its Economic Action Plan, we encourage G-20 countries to follow through on their […]

Feb 12 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — The price of making risky political commitments is the threat of getting it wrong at the worst possible moments. Right now, the Harper government is paying for a series of budget blunders: assuming the price of oil would continue coasting along at 2014 levels, vowing to balance the budget in 2015 come hell or high […]

Jan 27 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — When Finance Minister Joe Oliver did a backflip over budget timing on Jan. 15 — postponing his government’s pre-election budget to April, maybe even May — he claimed he was just being prudent, looking to get more information about the forces roiling the international oil market before committing to a revenue forecast. That’s his story […]

Jan 20 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — It’s a cliché, of course, but it bears repeating here: One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. In other words, when circumstances change, your plans should as well. In last year’s budget, the price of oil was at $110 a barrel. In June that price began […]

Jan 13 2015 — C. Scott Clark and Peter DeVries — iPolitics — The Harper government, more than any previous government, has hitched its political fortunes not so much to its economic stewardship (such as it is) as to the elimination of the deficit. Now it faces the very real prospect of missing that target (or of having to blur it enough to get by in an election […]