The federal budget tabled last week provides a prudent plan in a still unsettled economic environment. It’s a historic budget, one that actually reduces spending, in contrast with the typical trend of increasing government spending. Whether this budget cuts deep enough to save us from our economic woes will be told by the test of time.
We all know government operates with less efficiency than the private sector. Government needs the motivation to be efficient because it has no natural incentive to be cost effective. The modest cuts to many departments should be applauded as providing that incentive. Cuts like the 10 per cent over three years to Agriculture Canada and Agri-food, will help modernize the department into the 21st Century, for example. There are few government departments that don’t need a hair cut, so this budget is hopefully a first step towards reducing government spending further down the road.
MP Brian Storseth noted local business owners faced reductions of 10 to 20 per cent during the recession. It’s a part of life for the private sector, yet government spending is usually not affected as severely. The budget could have stood to make more significant cuts, like to the state broadcaster, CBC, which could handle a deeper cut by canning some of its sitcoms. Artistic merit aside, it’s just not the government’s job to be producing sitcoms.
Changes to the environmental regulatory review process is welcomed and will help ensure foreign funded radicals do not hurt the Alberta economy by opposing the sale of our natural resources with the assistance of a “charitable” tax status. Abolishing the penny, which costs more than it’s worth, is a sign the government is slowly moving forward with common sense solutions, and is hopefully a sign of more to come.
