Expect a contract to be put out on Kevin Page

President Steve has got to be cursing the day he made Kevin Page the Parliamentary Budget Officer. After all, Steve is in charge and what he says is the Word of God. That a mere mortal, such as Page, should contradict the Word of God is good reason to strike with a bolt of lightning.

The current misunderstanding between God and Page is over the chance of Canada entering a period of structural deficit. In a recent report (Page ignored the edict from above to vacate the Hill during prorogation), Page opined that there was going to be a structural deficit going forward if the government did not make the right (according to him) moves.

"Unfortunately, you've got to start dealing with the structural fiscal problem that's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger," Page said in an interview, "We're saying right now the government has no targets. That's not a good place to be. We don't know how much of this debt is going to be passed on to future generations."

Not so, insists Harper. "If we do what we've said we'll do, which is end stimulus spending when the recession is over. . . and if we discipline spending growth in the future, I don't think that should be a serious problem. If you look at Canada's deficit compared to other countries, it is much lower, and more importantly our debt levels are much, much lower. So the possibility of getting into a debt-interest-payment trap is, in my judgment, not high."

Well who can you believe? Page, who calls a spade a freaking shovel? Or Harper, who refused to see an economic tsunami coming and had to be pushed into acting?

I know who I believe.

It's Saturday in Ottawa

There are two ways to tell if it is Saturday in the Nation's capital.

The first is to look at the sky. If it is raining, it's Saturday.

The second is to look at page A6 of the local newsrag. Sure enough on A6 of today's bird cage liner is an innocuous article touting FinMin Flaherty saying that Canada's has turned the corner on the recession -- green shoots are showing -- things are looking rosy. Buried in the article is a toss away line stating that the deficit for 2009 has been pegged at a measly $75 billion.

What?

Flaherty told us a few weeks ago that the deficit would be about $50 billion., Now it is 50% higher at $75 billion? Can't this guy count? Or is he just a serial liar?

In the space of 10 months, Flaherty and the Con government have gone from predicting surpluses to small deficits to large deficits to, now, a humongous deficit. And I wager to say that he is not finished yet.

In his last update, before this one, Flaherty touted that the deficit would only be $85 billion over the next 5 years. He poopooed the bank economist who said it will be more like $156 billion. Now he is up to $75 billion in the first of the 5 years and there is no end in site.

Is that what you want from a government?

Harper stays the course

Last fall Harper stated that the economy was strong and that Canada will never have a deficit. A few weeks later he admitted that maybe things weren't so rosy. A few after that, he admits that we might have smaller than expected surpluses and that dips in the TSE were "buying" opportunities.

By January he predicted a slight deficit of to cover his stimulus package. Then the estimate grew to $34 billion and then to over $50 billion.

He then tells us that the budget will be balanced in five years and that the debt will rise by only $100 billion.

In the meantime, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, M. Page, who Harper hates with a passion, predicted that the deficits will continue after Harper's target date and the debt will rise by $156 billion.

"Dumb", says Harper. Almost all economists must be dumb also, cause they agree with Page.

It reminds of the old military story that a mother was watching her son on the parade square and she remarked, with pride, "My son is the only one in step". Harper must be the only one in step.

Next comes that declaration that Harper will not raise taxes or cut programs to balance the budget. Then just yesterday he clarified it all by stating that he will not cut taxes or slash programs to meet an arbitrary deadline for balancing the budget.

So let's get this straight -- Harper tells us that the PBO is dumb to suggest that the deficits will last longer than he declares and that he will not raise taxes or cut programs. Then he tells us that he will not raise taxes or cut programs just to meet the dates that he has already stated?

Stay tune -- the next logical thing for Harper to say is he may have to raise taxes or cut programs to get the country's budget balanced. But you can be sure that he will find someway to blame it on the Liberals.

Who is the dumb one now, Pinocchio?

Time to come out of the closet, PP

The tiny perfect MP for Nepean Carleton has some 'splainin' to do.

How is his government going to pay off the $156 billion in debt that be lumped onto Canadian thanks to their spending spree?

Tell us Pierre: will you cut services?  Will you cut transfers to provinces?  Will you sell off all the country's assets?  Will you raise taxes?

Or will you just run for the hills to avoid the question?

Harper can't dodge the Dodge

In a recent speech, David Dodge, the former Governor of the Bank of Canada and a former Deputy Minister of Finance has contradicted the government and especially the Prime Minister over budget deficits and how long it will take Canada to emerge from this current economic morass.

The most important difference between Harper and Dodge is that Harper maintains that he has not created any structural deficit for the country. (A structural deficit - of the kind that plagued in the 1980s and early 1990s - is one that persists over the long term even when the economy is healthy and growing.) Dodge maintains that the dumb-ass cut to the GST by the Con government created the conditions for a structural deficit... and he is right.

Readers of this blog will know that the government had a structural debt of $16 billion on January of this year due to the GST cut and higher spending. That deficit was buried in the January budget when Harper stated the deficit would be $34 billion to fight the recession. Anybody with an abacus could have figured out that $18 billion in emergency spending announced in February, when added to the $16 billion in the structural deficit made up the $34 billion.

Harper lied to Canadians.

Dodge (or anyone else, for that matter) for PM.