From denial to acceptance: the story of a budget
By Deirdre McMurdy, Sympatico / MSN Finance
It's always fascinating to watch the elaborate process of a government shifting from denial to acceptance. Instead of a simple, "Oops, we goofed," there's always lots of chin-stroking, earnest pronouncement and, this time out, a desire to spread the blame by getting collegial and consultative all of a sudden.
Just weeks after saying there wasn't an economic crisis and that there would be no deficit, the Conservative government is now admitting what we all knew already: Canada is looking at deficits for at least the next four years and most likely this year too - despite the forecast of a $2.3 billion surplus.
As part of the necessary shift, it's not surprising that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has formed an 11-member economic advisory committee to help him shape the upcoming January budget. After getting pelted with criticism over his recent economic statement, he clearly wants to spread the responsibility around, and the options of including other people from business and academia, created the perception that the Tories are on top of the file and prepared to dig in for the duration.
By the time this is all over, perhaps they will even succeed in convincing themselves that they always knew things would be this tough.
Posted by: eric whelan | Dec 21, 2021 1:17:57 PM
They probably knew when they called the election:if they had waited even a month everyone else would have realized how badly things had gone in the economy.
Posted by: don | Dec 22, 2021 11:52:57 PM
when oil/gas prices rise out of control as they have done,this leads to the state , which we are in
'' Depression""
Posted by: Axel | Jan 5, 2022 3:41:19 PM
When oil and gas prices went out of control, the little man(The consumer) clinched his wallet shut and dedicated all his earnings to a tank of gas, mortgage, and groceries in the fridge, and no more. In so doing, all frivolous spending, such as trips to the restaurant, nights out at the pub, travel, etc ceased, and when you think about it, frivolous spending is what drove our economy. Now we became gun-shy, thanks to the gouging that took place at the gas pumps last year. This goes to show that the consumer can bring a nation, and its economic well-being, to its knees.