iMatt :: The Blog of Matt Clare

Ralph Goodale announced today that Canada’s surplus is projected to be $8.9-billion.
Here’s how
The Globe And Mail has tracked the federal surplus/deficit over the years.

1991-92 -$32.3
1992-93 -$39
1993-94 -$38.5
1994-95 -$36.6
1995-96 -$30
1996-97 -$8.6
1997-98 $2.1
1998-99 $2.8
1999-00 $13.1
2000-01 $20.2
2001-02 $7
2002-03 $6.9
2003-04 $9

In one my first posts I expressed my interest in the right, and that I like to read about what the right is thinking. I think there is consensus that deficits are bad and there is a growing consensus that surpluses are bad too. The conservatices want the money for Tax cuts, the NDP etc. for child & health care and education. The point is the Liberals are taking in more money than they said they would.

Paul Martin started this policy of growing a surplus and using it ‘for emergencies’ and to use it, ultimately, to pay off the debt. I think it’s a bad idea for two main reasons:

1. The federal government should be planning for emergencies and BUDGETING for them, not explicitly not budgeting for them; not leaving money around just in case.
2. The Liberals (who have set the record on deficits and surpluses) are using this unallocated money for political gain, not for any good financial reason

By under estimating the revenue of the government the Liberals are ensuring that the government and the public are involved in allocating only the amount money the Liberals are willing to involve them in. In the end the surplus is a political tool used at the end of the year to spend funds for political gain.

Big surpluses are good politics but poor policy and certainly not good management of finances.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 16th, 2004 at 18:33 and is filed under Headlines: True, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.