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| Subject: Look what our neighbor to the north has done . IN the meantime | |
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Author: Bev |
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Date Posted: 09:24:34 09/28/07 Fri In reply to: Oropan 's message, "Are you doing well?" on 14:55:15 09/19/07 Wed our government has racked up the biggest deficet in our history . This deficet in our country will have to be paid back by younger generations. We may have been able to cut taxes as Canada is speaking of doing without all the rep excesses in the bush regime.THis deficet would not be so huge except for the spend spend spend rep in congress and bush would veto none of their excesses . http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e24d696a-6d33-11dc-ab19-0000779fd2ac.html Record budget surplus for Canada By Bernard Simon in Toronto Published: September 28 2007 03:14 | Last updated: September 28 2007 03:14 Canada posted a record budget surplus of C$13.8bn last year, allowing Ottawa to reduce its debt ratio to the lowest level in 25 years and paving the way for a fresh round of personal tax cuts. The announcement on Thursday by Stephen Harper, prime minister, is likely to fuel speculation that his minority Conservative government is preparing for a general election either this year or early in 2008. The federal government has run a budget surplus every year since 1998, allowing the Conservatives and their Liberal predecessors to bring the federal debt down to 32.3 per cent of gross domestic product. The debt-to-GDP ratio reached a peak of 74.8 per cent in 1996. The Conservatives pledged this year to use all interest savings on the debt to lower personal income taxes. Mr Harper said that savings for the fiscal year to March 31 would result in tax cuts totalling C$750m (US$746m, €528m, £370m). The government’s strong fiscal position, compounded by a trade surplus and robust domestic growth, has driven the Canadian dollar close to parity with the US dollar for the first time since 1976. However, Jim Flaherty, finance minister, speaking at the same event as Mr Harper, cautioned that “our economic fundamentals are strong, but we cannot become complacent”. Looming challenges, he said, included the impact of the strong Canadian dollar on export-oriented manufacturers, the US housing slump, an acute shortage of skilled workers in the booming resource industries of western Canada and intensifying competition from China, India and Brazil. Mr Harper repeatedly insists that he is content to govern with a minority and has no interest in calling an early election. According to recent opinion polls the Conservatives have yet to gain sufficient support to form a majority government. An election could be precipitated by the three opposition parties combining in a no-confidence vote in the House of Commons. Embattled leaders of the two main opposition parties, the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois, have laid out policy demands in recent days that will be difficult for the Conservatives to meet. Both the Liberals and BQ suffered stinging setbacks in three Quebec by-elections earlier this month. Some analysts have suggested that Stéphane Dion, the Liberal leader, and Gilles Duceppe, his BQ counterpart, may see an election as a way of galvanising and uniting dispirited members before their own positions are threatened. The first test of the opposition parties’ intentions will come in a vote on the throne speech setting out the government’s agenda for the next parliamentary session, which starts on October 16. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007 Print articleEmail articleOrde [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |