government spending

On Tuesday, the National Post's editorial page celebrated the continuation of Canada's AAA credit rating, in light of the U.S. downgrade to AA+. While there's no doubt our fiscal health is relatively better than the United States and Europe, the recent market volatility combined with declining commodity prices should not make us too complacent.

All expectations for next week's federal budget are that it will look much like the March version -one that included a substantial $30-billion deficit this year (2011-12) and no credible plan to return to a balanced budget.

Canadians deserve more. The newly minted Conservative majority should seize the opportunity to put forth a truly conservative plan to balance the budget -one that puts federal departmental spending on the chopping block.

This past weekend, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty encouraged the G20 countries to rapidly implement their stimulus packages, highlighting that his government provided a greater stimulus budget than the G20 countries agreed was needed. While that may be so, his government's 2009 budget also turned back the clock on Canada's 15-year record of sound fiscal management and set the nation back down the path of larger, more interventionalist government.