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William Watson, "From the editor's desktop" Sorry, the summary of this article is not available. Jim Stanford, "A Fred Astaire budget" Paul Martin is one of the smoothest budget-makers in Canadian history. His latest effort is an example of fiscal tap-dancing worthy of Fred Astaire, and so far it has met with ooohs and aaahs. But when ordinary Canadians wake up to the fact that its five-year projections are light on spending of the kind they repeatedly tell pollsters they want, but top-heavy with tax cuts for the white-tie and tails set, Mr. Martin and his fellow Liberals will find there may be trouble ahead. Marcel Côté, "A banker's budget" Paul Martin has an impressive record as a keeper of Canada' books. His clever innovations in accounting and money management have guaranteed that his budgets always balance. But the country needs more than prudent bookkeeping. If we are not to fall further and further behind the United States in real income per capita, we need significant tax cuts now, not five years from now. When economic performance, not budget balance, is the standard, Mr. Martin is in danger of being judged by history, along with Michael Wilson and John Crow, as an economic under-achiever. Thomas Courchene, "A Paul Martin, Sr. budget" Paul Martin's tax cuts move in the right direction, but too slowly for a country rapidly integrating into a globalizing information economy. The further expansion of the Canada Child Tax Benefit does continue the very sensible specialization in which Ottawa takes fiscal responsibility for Canada's children and seniors while the provinces cater to the needs of the work force. But Mr. Martin's failure to make a meaningful dent in either the top marginal or corporate tax rates means that the job of cutting taxes to promote wealth creation will fall to the provinces, especially the "have" provinces. The result will likely be divergent provincial economic fortunes, and calls from the "have-not" provinces for Ottawa to play an increasing redistributional role. Brian K. MacLean, "A Sherry Cooper budget" Budget 2000 may provide large percentage tax cuts to low- and middle-income Canadians, but the truly big bucks go to big corporations and high-income individuals. Since 1995, the federal books have been balanced largely on the backs of social programs. Yet now that the deficit is gone, Mr. Martin has made only a token attempt to restore the cuts in social spending. Instead, with income tax cuts that axiomatically deliver more dollars to those with higher incomes, Mr. Martin has launched a second stage in the dismantling of the Canadian welfare state. Rather than what it purports to be, a budget aimed at the interests of low- and middle-income Canadians, the budget is a tribute to the effectiveness of Canada's business lobby. Barry Gorman, "A pre-pre-election budget" Mr. Martin's budget tax cuts are too cautious and phased in too slowly. Moreover, several are really new spending in disguise. Tax relief at the top end of the income distribution is not great enough to make any significant dent in the brain drain. With his forecast $100-billion planning surplus over five years, Mr. Martin has lost an important opportunity to both jump-start Canadian economic growth and reduce the interest burden that the federal debt imposes on us all. On the other hand, his decision to spread the wealth rather than focus it where it will do the greatest economic good may well pay off politically. Patrick Grady, "A textbook budget" A finance minister's two most important obligations are to balance the books and then watch out for the taxpayer's interest. Paul Martin's first six budgets put the country's balance sheet in order. His seventh addresses the needs of taxpayers, and it largely delivers. These two achievements make him the most successful finance minister in memory. He may also have set the present government's agenda for its third mandate. "Remembrance of budgets past" It may be that no finance minister has ever had as great an influence on his government as Paul Martin has had on the government of Jean Chrétien, but, as keeper of the purse, the minister of finance is always a key player in government. In their day, men like Michael Wilson, Allan MacEachen, Marc Lalonde and Don Mazankowski played leading roles in determining their government's policies, fates and legacies. As part of Policy Options' 20th anniversary celebrations, here are excerpts from our analyses of previous budgets. Contributors: Tom Vradenburg, Lloyd Atkinson and Richard Lesage,
James Gillies, Arthur Drache, Pierre Paquette and
Mario Seccareccia, Timothy Denton and James Burns,
Pierre Simard, Thomas Courchene, John S. McCallum,
Darcy McKeough, John McCallum, Ken Battle, Lars Osberg,
John S. Scharf, Allan M. Maslove, Clarence Barber,
Harry Kitchen, Al Chatterjee, Denis Tanguay, Pierre Fortin. Antonia Maioni, "The Social Union and health care" In February, the IRPP and the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy sponsored a major conference on the Social Union Framework Agreement, or SUFA, which came into being a year earlier. Participants analysed the agreement from several different perspectives. In this and the next issue of Policy Options we present summaries of selected presentations. Pierre-Gerlier Forest, "Du neuf avec du vieux ? L'union sociale et la santé" In February, the IRPP and the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy sponsored a major conference on the Social Union Framework Agreement, or SUFA, which came into being a year earlier. Participants analysed the agreement from several different perspectives. In this and the next issue of Policy Options we present summaries of selected presentations. Matthew Mendelsohn and John McLean, "SUFA's double vision: Citizen engagement and intergovernmental collaboration" In February, the IRPP and the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy sponsored a major conference on the Social Union Framework Agreement, or SUFA, which came into being a year earlier. Participants analysed the agreement from several different perspectives. In this and the next issue of Policy Options we present summaries of selected presentations. Michael J. Prince, "Aboriginals are securing a role" In February, the IRPP and the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy sponsored a major conference on the Social Union Framework Agreement, or SUFA, which came into being a year earlier. Participants analysed the agreement from several different perspectives. In this and the next issue of Policy Options we present summaries of selected presentations. Gerard W. Boychuk, "SUFA, the child benefit and social assistance" In February, the IRPP and the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy sponsored a major conference on the Social Union Framework Agreement, or SUFA, which came into being a year earlier. Participants analysed the agreement from several different perspectives. In this and the next issue of Policy Options we present summaries of selected presentations. Tom McIntosh, "Is the Social Union too "healthy"? Re-thinking labour market policy" In February, the IRPP and the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy sponsored a major conference on the Social Union Framework Agreement, or SUFA, which came into being a year earlier. Participants analysed the agreement from several different perspectives. In this and the next issue of Policy Options we present summaries of selected presentations. Richard Shearmur, "Is more education really a good thing?" If education really is the way to improve one's productivity and income, then the post-baby-boom generation should have the highest incomes of any generation in Canada's history. But it doesn't. In fact, the incomes of young people have been falling for the last two decades. It is time both to reconsider governing shibboleths about education and to re-cast social and economic policies in ways that help those who are hurting most. F.L. Morton and Rainer Knopff, "Book excerpt: Judges, the court party and the Charter revolution" This month Broadview Press publishes an important new book by Ted Morton and Rainer Knopff, both of the University of Calgary. Titled The Charter Revolution and the Court Party, it argues that the advent of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has drastically increased the power of judges in Canadian society. In deciding to use their new powers in an activist way, judges have been urged on by what Morton and Knopff call "the Court Party," a loose coalition of feminists, civil libertarians, government lawyers, Supreme Court clerks, law professors, and social activists, many funded principally by government. In the following excerpt from the book's first chapter, Morton and Knopff argue that, on its own, the introduction of the Charter did not prompt the Charter revolution. Judges had to decide to take up their new powers, and the Court Party helped them make that decision. Pierre-Paul Proulx, "La compétitivité de la région métropolitaine de Montréal en Amérique du Nord" Between 1977 and 1992, the competitiveness of the Greater Montreal area improved enormously. In fifteen years, Greater Montreal's ranking moved from 56th to 6th place in North America. In Canada, it ranked third behind Vancouver and Calgary from 1992 through 1996. Our research shows that the adoption of a strategic development plan in collaboration with governments and the private sector is one of the key factors of competitiveness of large urban agglomerations. In this regard, the "One Island, One City" project cannot be a panacea. Above all, the debate over the municipal structure must not stop us from examining what the best strategies would be to make the Greater Montreal region a showcase of innovation, decision-making and production. N.T. Yap, "Who says command-and-control doesn't work?" Taiwan's environmental protection programmes, which are of relatively recent vintage, involve detailed regulation of industry and widespread technical assistance from government institutes and labs. Despite this, its environmental performance has improved measurably and its economy has recovered from the Asian crisis and continues to grow impressively. Maybe command-and-control regulatory techniques aren't as bad as is often thought. Phil Ryan, "Comment: Simeon on sovereignty" Sorry, the summary of this article is not available. William Watson, "Book review: Natural Wonder(er) Jane Jacobs' The Nature of Economies" Sorry, the summary of this article is not available. |
