Plunging oil prices are forcing governments and families in Alberta and Saskatchewan to keep an eye on every bill. One of those bills may come as a surprise: next year’s equalization costs are going up to $499 per Canadian. Taxpayers in Alberta and Saskatchewan will be paying more, but despite their struggling economies, they won’t be receiving a dime back. The federal government’s financial projections show the total cost of the program will be nearly $17.9 billion next year. Ultimately, [Read more]
Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Saskatchewan projecting $262M deficit as lower oil prices hit revenue
REGINA - Tanking oil prices are forcing the Saskatchewan government to put the brakes on spending.A budget update shows the province is projecting a deficit of $262 million, compared with a surplus of just over $100 million that was forecast in March.Finance Minister Kevin Doherty says getting the books back in the black is going "to be a tough challenge.""I want to be definitive here, my goal is to try to get us to balance. I'm not sure I can get us there," Doherty said at a news conference [Read more]
CTF Uncovers $341,000 in Taxpayer Funding to PEMBINA INSTITUTE
A Canadian Taxpayers Federation Report by Derek Fildebrandt: Using Freedom of Information requests, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has uncovered documents (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3and Part 4) showing that the City of Calgary has provided $340,656 to an environmentalist advocacy group/think tank, the Pembina Institute. A majority of the taxpayer funding was to support ‘professional fees’ for communications, disbursements, greenhouse gas offsets and preparing reports. What these [Read more]
COMMENTARY: Alberta Budget Prediction
By Derek Fildebrandt - Canadian Taxpayer Federation With the province’s budget about to come down in early March, it’s time to read the entrails of what Albertans can expect this year, and next. Since it became apparent in September that the government’s election commitments were worth as much as Nortel stock, the Tories have dropped many hints and have been busily spinning away at public opinion. Combined with the hard numbers, the government’s hints allow at least some prediction of what to [Read more]
Newfoundland and Labrador budget delivers tax hikes, job cuts, $2B deficit
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Critics are calling Newfoundland and Labrador's new spending plan the Tax on Pretty Much Everything Budget, saying it could repel investment and migration to a province that badly needs both."We cannot tax our way back to prosperity," Des Whelan, chairman of the St. John's Board of Trade, said as the new Liberal government delivered its first fiscal blueprint Thursday."In this budget we have seen an increase in every tax, fee and levy that you could possibly do. That's going [Read more]
Greater Montreal mayors come out against TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline
MONTREAL - The rejection by Montreal-area municipal leaders of TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Energy East pipeline prompted a sharp political rebuke from some parts of Western Canada on Thursday.The Montreal Metropolitan Community, which represents 82 municipalities and 3.9 million residents, said it opposes the project and will defend that position at Quebec environmental impact and National Energy Board hearings.Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, the current president of the organization, said the [Read more]
Alberta Tory backbencher quits caucus; calls Redford a BULLY
EDMONTON - A Tory backbencher in Alberta has announced he is leaving Premier Alison Redford's caucus because he can no longer work with her. Len Webber told reporters in Calgary that Redford is disrespectful, a bully and — quote — "not a nice lady." Redford has been facing a backlash from a $45,000 trip to South Africa for Nelson Mandela's funeral. On Wednesday, after weeks of trying to weather the controversy, she said she had repaid the money. Webber had already announced his [Read more]
B.C. Liberals to outline LNG policy plans in a promised balanced budget
VICTORIA - British Columbia Finance Minister Mike de Jong says the budget he will table today contains few spending announcements or tax breaks, but it's balanced and forecasts three years of surpluses — an achievement most other provinces would celebrate. B.C. and Saskatchewan are the only two provinces in Canada to post balanced budgets this year. Last week, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the Conservative government is on track to balance the books next year — an election [Read more]
Alison 2.0: Alberta’s Redford reinvents herself one year after election victory
By Dean Bennet EDMONTON - One year after Alison Redford won her first popular mandate, the Alberta premier remembers not only voting day, but the uneasy feeling just before she dropped the writ. It was last March 26. Redford stood in her cabinet meeting room and realized she might not see it again. "The most profound moment in this room was that last moment," said Redford in an interview, touching her high-backed chair beside the long, sprawling, oval wooden desk, hollow in [Read more]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5