program spending

March 14, 2012 3:00AM

Nary a conservative budget in sight

Sitting down with my morning cup of coffee and Saturday's National Post, I was delighted to read Andrew Coyne's scathing criticism of the federal Conservatives' record in office, based on comments he was to make at this year's Manning Networking Conference (Is there a conservative in the House?, March 10).

Where has conservatism gone? Coyne asked. Unfortunately, Post readers didn't have to look far for the answer - the adjacent page to be precise.

Tags:

government spending, provincial budget, bc budget, alberta budget, program spending, taxes, debt and deficits

March 6, 2012 2:00AM

Cut $10-billion now; Flaherty should drop entire departments and programs

Niels Veldhuis, Charles Lammam

On Monday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty held his traditional pre-budget consultation with a number of private-sector economists, who all appear to be predicting improved growth in the Canadian economy for the coming year. This no doubt comes as welcome news to the Finance Minister, as he prepares to unveil his next budget on March 29.

But the Finance Minister should not be swayed by these optimistic growth projections; he needs to bring in a budget that will take serious aim at balancing the nation's book.

Tags:

federal budget, government spending, program spending, debt, deficit

November 16, 2011 2:00AM

Provinces follow Ottawa's pattern of rosy revenue forecasts and unrealistic spending projections

Niels Veldhuis, Charles Lammam

When Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced last week that the Conservative government will miss its target for balancing the budget, he confirmed something that should be obvious to all students of recent Canadian economic history: Crossed-finger revenue forecasts and unrealistic spending growth projections are no basis for sound economic policy.

Tags:

government spending, jim flaherty, federal government, federal budget, debt, deficit, program spending

November 15, 2011 10:00AM