A University of Victoria professor said the Conservative government has not done a good job of safeguarding the economy against the current financial crisis.
“Clearly the more fiscal flexibility you have in the system, the better you can withstand these things,” said David Good, a professor in UVic’s school of public administration. “[The Tories] have reduced the amount of contingency in their economic and fiscal forecast.”
The latest Fiscal Monitor results posted online by the Department of Finance show the federal government had outstanding debts of $20.3 billion for April to July, 2008.
Good said that first quarter figures don’t give a completely accurate picture of a government’s fiscal health. But he admitted that this year’s financial requirement was much higher than previous years for the same period.
Finance Department spokesperson Jack Aubry said $10 billion of that balance was due to a consolidation of Crown Corporation debt planned in Budget 2007. Instead of owing money to outside lenders, the corporations shifted their debts to the government.
Good said the remaining $10.3 billion in debt is a large amount of money to owe in financially uncertain times.
“It does suggest [the Conservatives] are running fairly close to the line,” he said. “They’ve argued that they’re going to stay in a surplus by a couple billion dollars. They obviously need to be careful if they want to live up to their commitment.”
He added that Harper’s GST tax cuts contributed to some of the outstanding debt. “Those are very costly initiatives,” Good said.
James Brander, a professor in UBC’s Sauder school of business, said the April to July financial requirement doesn’t necessarily signal an impending deficit. He said the debt refers to operating costs that aren’t included in the federal budget.
But it could be a sign of hard times to come, he added.
“Is it a bad signal for next year’s budget? Absolutely it is,” Brander said.
Geoff Dembicki is a staff reporter for The Hook.
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ThisCanadian
3 years ago
Canadians counting on OBAMA??
I wish Canadians took a stronger interest in Canadian politics.
I also wish Canadians looked harder at the so-called, 'Security & Prosperity Partnership' & other 'Free Trade'/ G8/10/20/IMF goals of the Canadian ReichWing establishment.
What's the first thing Canadians heard after the US economy began to tank?
FIRESALE!
Start Talking Free Trade Deal with India: CEOs - Embassy...
10 Sep 2008 ... Over the last year, Canadian and Indian CEOs have met and studied the feasibility of launching free trade negotiations...
Let's remember: Canadians are NOT the 'barely liberal' Obama/'MasterCard' Biden or McCain/HockeyMom's first interest, save as a source of revenue & resource.
Nor are the best interest of Canadians served by selling everything we've got to 'foreign investment' (aka, 'foreign ownership & control') Abu Dhabi owns HOW MUCH of the toxic tar sands? yeah, & they'll be around to clean up the mess? riiiight.
Foreign investors aren't even interested in HIRING resident Canadians to harvest our endangered resources. Newfoundanders can tell you how short Hibernia returned for their local citizenry.
So we're left with ONE image to drive our electoral choice:
PICTURE CANADA AT THE NEGOTIATING TABLE WITH:
-Putin?
-Obama / McCain?
-Manmohan Singh?
-Hu Jintao?
-Angela Merkel?
for the duration of Harper's tenure, we've become de facto American puppets & handed over all our power, principles & resources. Have we simply become used to that role?
- Will Harper represent Canadians? not unless you're a millionaire or an American investor with a company in Canada... or you like making incredibly expensive weaponry & waxing poetic about the US 'War on ... vices'
- Will Dion strongly represent? um...
- Will the articulate & uni-principled American, May, get enough votes? no. Which isn't to say she would be a bad choice, we simply don't know her enough for her to actually win this time.
...WHICH LEAVES, an incredibly GOOD choice: Layton. He's capable, principled & motivated.
Hell, Layton is a strong FIRST choice...
Soooo,
what's the confusion, folks?
Don't tell me you're counting on OBAMA to represent Canadians... because that's simply ignorance & naiveté.
~~~
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ThisCanadian
~~~
"... tolerance of intolerance is cowardice..." ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
"We, two, form a Multitude" ~ Ovid.
"Violence can only be concealed by a Lie, & the Lie can only be maintained by Violence." ... "Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take thelie as his principle" – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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~~~
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