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- From: golchowy@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Gerald Olchowy)
- Subject: Re: Deficit, Deficit, who's got the Deficit? was: NDP "communism?"
- Message-ID: <1993Jan24.170732.25135@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
- Organization: University of Toronto Chemistry Department
- References: <93024.0053342893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> <1993Jan24.160009.16676@csi.uottawa.ca> <jstewart.727892428@cunews>
- Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 17:07:32 GMT
- Lines: 38
-
- In article <jstewart.727892428@cunews> jstewart@alfred.carleton.ca (John Stewart) writes:
- >
- >No one seems to have brought up the point that a special cap on transfer
- >payments to the richer provinces (BC, Alberta, Ontario) was put in place
- >several years ago. While all provinces have been affected by the reduction
- >in Federal transfer payments, Ontario has been especially hard hit. The
- >recession has been very severe in Ontario and were it not for the special
- >cap, Ontario would be receiving billions of dollars in extra payments
- >from the Federal government. In general, the Federal government appears
- >to be totally indifferent to the permanent loss of hundreds of thousands
- >of jobs in Ontario's manufacturing sector.
- >
- >I agree that the Federal government had to cut back on transfer payments to
- >the provinces, however the distribution of whatever money is available
- >should be based on current realities and not on an outdated concept of
- >which provinces are rich and which provinces are poor.
- >
- >I don't particularily like Bob Rae and his policies, but this is one
- >case where his comments are right on target.
- >
-
- Ontario is still a have-province compared to anyone else but Alberta
- and BC. From the onset of the Peterson-Rae coalition in the
- mid-eighties, spending in Ontario has been increasing at 10-15% per
- year, and really has not slowed...all the fat added in the good times
- just needs to be cut...Ontario is to blame for its own problem because
- it didn't restrain spending and taxation in the good times (the other
- half of the Keynesian cycle), so there was room for deficit spending
- and stimulus during the bad times.
-
- While Ontario was increasing spending during the late eighties at 10-15%
- a year...the federal Tories were becoming unpopular holding their
- program spending increases to the lowest of the 11 governments in the
- country...allowing federal transfers larger than their own program
- spending increases, and raising taxes to pay for the social programs
- the Trudeau government put in place on credit.
-
- Gerald
-