Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole dismissed the federal government’s fall economic statement saying a three-year plan to provide stimulus to the economy is pointless without first revealing how Canadians will be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The minister of finance has proven their government has no plan. Without a plan for vaccines, there can be no long-term plan for our economy,” O’Toole said in the House of Commons on Monday.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland responded that enough vaccine has been prepurchased to ensure there are up to 10 doses for every Canadian, but she did not provide details on how vaccines will be rolled out in Canada.
“We don’t know the first date vaccines will be received. Almost, most of our allies do, in fact the U.K. and the U.S. will start receiving them in the next few days. Canadians are going to be asking questions and they deserve answers,” O’Toole later told CBC News Network’s Power & Politics.
“This is a debacle,” he told host Vassy Kapelos. “We’re pushing because there is a real problem here.”
WATCH | O’Toole pushes for vaccine plan:
Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole says the government needs to present a clear plan for distributing vaccines to Canadians. 1:27
O’Toole also said the government’s efforts to provide economic support to both companies and individuals could have been more effective if implemented sooner.
“The truth is the Liberals’ economic response has been erratic and confused. Millions more Canadians were put on the CERB than necessary when their jobs could have been maintained if the Liberals had implemented a wage subsidy earlier,” he said.
In Monday’s fiscal update Freeland projects that the deficit will reach $381.6 billion by the end of March 2021 and could climb higher, depending on the rate of COVID-19 infections.
The Liberal government said it is preparing to spend up to $100 billion to kick-start the post-pandemic economy over the next three years, promising it would provide details in the coming months.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said there should be much more detail about the government’s plan to provide economic stimulus, especially when the government is so deeply in debt.
“They have renounced the very idea of controlling deficits,” Blanchet said. “They basically say there is no limit to what they will spend without saying, or without admitting, how badly sometimes they do spend it.”
WATCH | O’Toole claims government’s slow response led to job losses:
Reacting to the federal government’s Fall Economic Statement, Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole says the government’s slow response to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has caused thousands of job losses. 1:43
NDP finance critic Peter Julian told the House of Commons that the economic statement should be a signal to Canadians that “austerity is coming.”
Leader Jagmeet Singh was later asked by Kapelos to clarify that position. He said the government’s plan to reduce supports as the economy recovers is evidence Canadians should be concerned.
“If you look at their economic update in the next years, past Year Two and Three, we see clearly cuts to the help that people need,” Singh told Kapelos.
Singh was particularly critical of the Liberal government’s decision to put off directly taxing web giants such as Amazon and Google until 2022, while starting to collect GST/HST on goods and services provided by foreign-based digital companies.
Watch: NDP Leader Singh says Fall Economic Statement shows future ‘cuts to the help that people need’
Reacting to the Fall Economic Statement, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the government should be more focused on generating revenue from wealthy individuals and corporations so that it can continue to invest in helping people in a sustained way 4:18
Singh said the application of the GST was important because it put Canadian companies on an even footing with foreign companies, but was meaningless because it failed to directly tax those corporations.
“Why is it, six years into their government, they still have not actually made web giants pay a single, effectively a cent, of corporate tax? Actually revenue-based taxes that they make off of Canadians in Canada?” he asked Kapelos.
Singh said he wanted to see a wealth tax that targets people that have more than $20 million and also “pandemic profiteering taxes” levied on companies that have “made massive profits off the backs of Canadians,” during the pandemic.
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul welcomed some of the environmental initiatives in the economic statement, particularly issues that help the federal government achieve its net-zero objective.
“There are also enhanced investments in the infrastructure, projects and those sectors which will move us toward net-zero by helping to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.
However she criticized the failure to deliver a plan that would see emissions cut by 60 per cent from 2005 levels or the implementation of a carbon budget setting out the maximum level of emissions Canada can emit and still keep global temperatures from rising.
Watch: Green Party leader says Liberal government is delaying many initiatives past the next election
Federal Green Party Leader Annamie Paul spoke with reporters after the fiscal update on Monday. 1:04
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VICTORIA – British Columbia is forecasting a record budget deficit and a rising debt of almost $129 billion less than two weeks before the start of a provincial election campaign where economic stability and future progress are expected to be major issues.
Finance Minister Katrine Conroy, who has announced her retirement and will not seek re-election in the Oct. 19 vote, said Tuesday her final budget update as minister predicts a deficit of $8.9 billion, up $1.1 billion from a forecast she made earlier this year.
Conroy said she acknowledges “challenges” facing B.C., including three consecutive deficit budgets, but expected improved economic growth where the province will start to “turn a corner.”
The $8.9 billion deficit forecast for 2024-2025 is followed by annual deficit projections of $6.7 billion and $6.1 billion in 2026-2027, Conroy said at a news conference outlining the government’s first quarterly financial update.
Conroy said lower corporate income tax and natural resource revenues and the increased cost of fighting wildfires have had some of the largest impacts on the budget.
“I want to acknowledge the economic uncertainties,” she said. “While global inflation is showing signs of easing and we’ve seen cuts to the Bank of Canada interest rates, we know that the challenges are not over.”
Conroy said wildfire response costs are expected to total $886 million this year, more than $650 million higher than originally forecast.
Corporate income tax revenue is forecast to be $638 million lower as a result of federal government updates and natural resource revenues are down $299 million due to lower prices for natural gas, lumber and electricity, she said.
Debt-servicing costs are also forecast to be $344 million higher due to the larger debt balance, the current interest rate and accelerated borrowing to ensure services and capital projects are maintained through the province’s election period, said Conroy.
B.C.’s economic growth is expected to strengthen over the next three years, but the timing of a return to a balanced budget will fall to another minister, said Conroy, who was addressing what likely would be her last news conference as Minister of Finance.
The election is expected to be called on Sept. 21, with the vote set for Oct. 19.
“While we are a strong province, people are facing challenges,” she said. “We have never shied away from taking those challenges head on, because we want to keep British Columbians secure and help them build good lives now and for the long term. With the investments we’re making and the actions we’re taking to support people and build a stronger economy, we’ve started to turn a corner.”
Premier David Eby said before the fiscal forecast was released Tuesday that the New Democrat government remains committed to providing services and supports for people in British Columbia and cuts are not on his agenda.
Eby said people have been hurt by high interest costs and the province is facing budget pressures connected to low resource prices, high wildfire costs and struggling global economies.
The premier said that now is not the time to reduce supports and services for people.
Last month’s year-end report for the 2023-2024 budget saw the province post a budget deficit of $5.035 billion, down from the previous forecast of $5.9 billion.
Eby said he expects government financial priorities to become a major issue during the upcoming election, with the NDP pledging to continue to fund services and the B.C. Conservatives looking to make cuts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the debt would be going up to more than $129 billion. In fact, it will be almost $129 billion.
NANAIMO, B.C. – Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he’ll be advising the Liberal party to flip some the challenges posed by an increasingly divided and dangerous world into an economic opportunity for Canada.
But he won’t say what his specific advice will be on economic issues that are politically divisive in Canada, like the carbon tax.
He presented his vision for the Liberals’ economic policy at the party’s caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C. today, after he agreed to help the party prepare for the next election as chair of a Liberal task force on economic growth.
Carney has been touted as a possible leadership contender to replace Justin Trudeau, who has said he has tried to coax Carney into politics for years.
Carney says if the prime minister asks him to do something he will do it to the best of his ability, but won’t elaborate on whether the new adviser role could lead to him adding his name to a ballot in the next election.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she has been taking advice from Carney for years, and that his new position won’t infringe on her role.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
