Canada’s new prime minister delivers more austerity

[Karmadillo]

See? Immigration isn't the solution. Might as well stay here and fight in the heart of darkness.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/can-m31.shtml

Last week’s federal budget—the first the Liberal government has tabled under Prime Minister Paul Martin—received generally favorable reviews from the corporate media and business spokesmen. Echoing a line from Finance Minister Ralph Goodale’s budget speech, many commentators praised the government for eschewing a “pre-election spending spree” and emphasizing instead the need to constrain public spending and “rejuvenate” government through a continual review of the scale and efficacy of all federal programs.

Martin is no newcomer to budget-writing. Jean Chrétien’s finance minister from 1993 to the spring of 2002, Martin presided over the biggest public spending cuts in Canadian history, then in the fall of 2000 unveiled a five-year, $100 billion program of personal and corporate income tax cuts heavily skewed in favor of the well-to-do. In the coming fiscal year (2004-05) and every year thereafter, Martin’s tax cuts will constitute more than $30 billion in foregone federal tax revenues, little of which will find its way into the pockets of working people.

Thomas d’Aquino, the head of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), praised last week’s budget, saying it would “help to maintain Canada’s fiscal leadership and economic competitiveness at a time of considerable global risk and uncertainty.” Like d’Aquino, the Globe and Mail, the traditional voice of Toronto’s financial houses, lauded the government for increasing its annual contingency fund—which if not drawn down goes directly to paying down the national debt—to $4 billion and for setting a 10-year target to reduce the debt as a proportion of Canada’s GDP from 42 to 25 percent. In an editorial titled “The Goodale Budget Gets the Basics Right,” the Globe proclaimed the budget “in the main sensible and competent,” although it warned that the Liberals would likely have to do more to “catapult” themselves “back into majority-government territory.”

The National Post, the house organ of the official opposition Conservatives, flailed the government for not announcing a further round of personal income tax cuts and more than minor reductions in corporate taxes. Nevertheless, the Post conceded that even from its right-wing perspective it was “hard to find many new spending commitments to take issue with.”

more...

[Iceburg]

1. Perhaps you meant Emigrate

Emigrate -- To leave one country or region to settle in another.
Have you caught the Chimp's malapropic disease?

I'll save everyone the time and summarize the article ... the prime minister of Canada supports fiscally conservative (balancing budget) and socially liberal policies.

[Karmadillo]

2. Ooooooooooooooo!

You got me on the emigrate/immigrate, though I'll claim I knew the difference and blame early morning typing. You, however, might want to check the tone of your reply and look up "pedant".

It's nice of you to try to save everyone the time and trouble of actually reading the article, but since your summary is inaccurate, it might be a good idea for people so inclined to read it themselves.