Wednesday January 27

Ed Stelmach has been roundly criticized for his lack of vision, and the case of heathcare reform is no different. The Stelmach government seems to be locked in a cycle of hasty decision-making, only holding consultations afterwards. Without consultation, Stelmach and then Health Minister Liepert hastily cobbled together a plan to close 150 acute-care hospital beds as a cost-saving initiative. Stelmach has now abandoned the ill-conceived plan, yet Albertans are left with the sense that their government is neither effectively nor responsibly reducing spending. Ouch!

Monday January 25, 2010

Canadians may need to brace for a GST hike to battle our structural deficit. Economist Dale Orr believes that our federal government is unable to control its penchant for spending. If we are to return to a balanced budget, spending increases must be limited to less than 2% . From 2006-2008, annual federal program spending increased by an average of 8%. Ouch!

Thursday January 21, 2010

For many years Quebec has received the lion's share of federal money doled out for Canada Day celebrations. Quebec's Canada Day committees received $3.2 million of the $3.8 million total available for all provinces' celebrations. Last year, the Conservatives added more money to the overall program, but Quebec's share remains disproportionately large relative to its population. Ouch!

Wednesday January 20, 2010

Under the stewardship of Ed Stelmach, Alberta has become the highest-spending government in Canada. Alberta spends $11,000 per capita on government services. The next highest-spending province is Ontario, at just over $8,000 per capita. Albertans are right to question where their province's fiscal sense has gone. Ouch!

Monday January 18, 2010

The federal government has misled Canadians about the actual costs of public service pension liabilities. By using inaccurate statistics and averages to predict future pension costs, our government has understated our national debt by at least $58 billion. This means that any budget surpluses over the past decade should actually be viewed as deficits. It also means that Canada surpassed the $500 billion national debt mark much earlier than advertised. Ouch!

Friday January 15, 2010

Many large Canadian cities compete for a small number of specialized employees trained in Information Technologies. This is exacerbated in Ottawa, where government departments and agencies require many IT employees. The city, however, has chosen to contract out its IT needs, at substantially inflated prices. One deal from this past summer, for example, charged $1.7 million for the temporary services of five employees. Ouch!

Wednesday January 13, 2010

Today, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page has revealed that our current federal budget deficit is more damaging than previously revealed to tax-payers. According to Page, our deficit is structural - meaning that the expected growth of our economy wil not be enough to satisfy our growing deficits and spending. Prime Minister Harper's renewed focus on limiting spending is encouraging, yet Canadians are unwilling to return to the similar structural deficits seen in the 1970's and 1980's.  Dealing with our deficit immediately, and discussing it frankly, is the only responsible action. Ouch!

Tuesday January 12, 2010

Forget prorogation! As mandated by the Official Languages Act, translation costs amount to approximately $4 billion annually for our federal government. Ouch!

Monday January 11, 2010

As debate over the prorogation of parliament continues to percolate, citizens have now had some time for reflection.  Rather than taking a holiday, it seems that Mr. Harper has been seen hard at work in Ottawa. Much to the dismay of the Opposition, and the consternation of the Canadian public, it is actually Ignatieff and Layton who are, certifiably, on vacation. Ouch!

Wednesday January 6, 2010

The 2006 Liberal leadership race continues to yield questionable results for tax-payers. Stephane Dion, Gerard Kennedy, Martha Hall-Findlay, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Joe Volpe and Hedy Fry all accepted loans from Elections Canada to fund their leadership bids. Despite being granted an 18-month extension by Elections Canada, none have repaid their debts to tax-payers. Interestingly, if they continue to default on loan payments their significant debts will be deemed  'political contributions' to their leadership bids, thus putting them in contravention of the Canada Elections Act. Ouch!

Monday January 4, 2010

Ed Stelmach's spending habits have raised many eyebrows over the past year. His plan to reduce spending, however, has been credited as scrooge-like and short-sighted. There is a long list of areas where Alberta's spending has increased relative to other provinces, yet Stelmach has slashed $11-million from disability assistance. This is poor timing for more negative publicity on the part of Stelmach. Ouch!