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austerity

Tuesday April 22, 2025

April 22, 2025 by Graeme MacKay

As Canadian political parties promise tax cuts without detailing spending cuts, voters face uncertainty about potential austerity measures post-election.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday April 22, 2025

Austerity on the Horizon

The absence of costed platforms from major Canadian political parties leaves voters without crucial fiscal insights, posing risks to informed decision-making.

April 18, 2025

As Canada approaches its 45th general election, a familiar narrative unfolds: political parties promising tax cuts while remaining vague about the inevitable spending cuts required to balance the books. With platforms that hint at financial prudence but fail to provide detailed roadmaps, both the Liberal and Conservative parties leave voters facing an uncertain fiscal future.

Historically, election platforms have served as a blueprint for governance, offering voters insight into a party’s priorities and fiscal strategies. However, recent campaigns have witnessed a shift towards platforms filled with undefined savings and broad commitments rather than specific financial plans. The Conservatives, for example, have been open about reducing foreign aid and defunding the CBC as part of their cost-cutting measures. Yet, these areas alone cannot compensate for the extensive tax cuts promised, leaving a substantial gap that must be filled by other, undisclosed means.

News: Poilievre pledges platform ‘soon’ after Liberals, NDP release costed campaign plans

Mark Carney leverages his dual role as Liberal leader and Prime Minister to address economic challenges and political dynamics, including a significant gender gap, in Canada's federal election.

April 12, 2025

Similarly, the Liberals tout fiscal prudence, suggesting efficiency improvements in government spending. However, the absence of specifics raises questions about which programs or services might face the axe. Both parties are accused of strategic obfuscation, delaying the release of fully costed platforms to minimize scrutiny and maximize voter support during early voting periods.

With Canada’s economy already grappling with significant debt and high deficits, the promise of tax cuts seems at odds with fiscal sustainability. The looming threat of trade tariffs from the Trump administration adds another layer of complexity, demanding financial commitments to bolster the economy against external shocks. In this context, austerity measures—whether acknowledged or not—appear inevitable.

April 9, 2012

Austerity often translates into spending cuts in essential services like healthcare, education, and infrastructure. While these are rarely highlighted in campaign rhetoric, history shows that governments frequently turn to these areas when seeking to balance budgets. The lack of transparency in detailing these potential cuts leaves voters in the dark, reminiscent of past political strategies where campaign promises diverged significantly from post-election actions.

The current election cycle’s lack of detailed financial planning risks voter disillusionment. As seen in the UK, where the Labour Party’s campaign promises did not align with subsequent austerity measures, Canadian voters may find themselves facing unexpected fiscal policies once the dust of the election settles. This disconnect underscores the need for greater transparency and accountability in political platforms.

Pierre Poilievre faces challenges adapting his strategy against the fresh leadership of Mark Carney, as Canada's political dynamics shift from opposition to unity.

March 15, 2025

It is essential for parties to provide clear, realistic financial plans that outline how tax cuts will be funded and what spending adjustments are anticipated. Without such transparency, platforms become mere wish lists rather than actionable blueprints for governance.

As Canadians head to the polls, they do so with a sense of uncertainty about the fiscal path ahead. Whether led by the Liberals or the Conservatives, the next government will likely face the challenge of implementing austerity measures to reconcile campaign promises with economic realities. Voters deserve more than vague assurances; they need concrete plans that address both the opportunities and sacrifices required to achieve fiscal stability. Only then can they make informed decisions about the future direction of their country.


Austerity is Coming La La La, not listening!

In the current political climate, spending cuts are often whispered in hushed tones, especially when addressing crowds outside partisan strongholds. Politicians tend to focus on tax cuts, painting them as the ultimate relief for voters. However, those in partisan circles, like Pierre Poilievre, openly discuss defunding initiatives that irk their base, such as the CBC and foreign aid. The Liberals, on the other hand, remain vague about their intentions, hiding behind terms like “Spending Reviews” and “Program Adjustments” without revealing what might face the chopping block.

The truth is, Canadians should brace themselves for significant cuts in the near future, a reality that’s becoming increasingly apparent on the global stage. In the United States, Trump, through Elon Musk, is aggressively slashing spending across federal departments. Meanwhile, in the UK, even the left-leaning Labour Party under Keir Starmer is undertaking deep cuts, surpassing anything the Conservatives dared to implement during their long tenure.

Austerity is looming over Canada, and now is the time to demand transparency from our leaders. While Conservatives are relatively candid about the fiscal austerity they plan to introduce, the Liberals are more elusive. Yet, if the polls are accurate and they secure another term, the mystery will quickly unravel.

It’s crucial for Canadians to seek clarity and accountability from their political leaders. Austerity is on the horizon, and understanding its implications is vital to navigate the challenges ahead.

– The Graeme Gallery

Read on Substack

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2025-08, austerity, Canada, Conservative Party, economic pressure, education, election, execution, fiscal responsibility, healthcare, Liberal Party, national debt, platform, promises, spending cuts, Substack, tax cuts, transparency, U.S. tariffs

Saturday January 18, 2020

January 27, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 18, 2020

$60 payout ‘putting money back in parents’ pockets’, education minister says

May 4, 2019

The minister of education is offering parents money for childcare costs incurred during rotating teachers’ strikes.

Stephen Lecce says parents can apply for amounts from $25 to $60 per day for children under twelve.

Lecce says if all unions were to walk out, subsidies for childcare would amount to $48 million a day.    

“Just for clarity, every day that all unions withdraw services, that full withdraw saves the government $60 million dollars in salaries,” Lecce said. “So the concept here is we know that’s not our money, it’s our tax dollars, we’re using it. It’s the savings from their withdrawal of service.”

November 22, 2019

Parents of pre-schoolers at school-based child-care centres affected by the strikes will get the most money. Those with children in grades 1 through 7 will get less and parents of high school students will get nothing.

Lecce said the government’s motivation for the payout was to put money “back in the pockets of working people in Ontario.”

“At the end of the day the greatest constituency that bears the costs of this are parents and middle and low-income families who have to find childcare on short order,” he said.

As for criticisms that the payout was a bribe to parents, Lecce said he wasn’t surprised it was being spun by teachers’ unions as such.

August 29, 2019

“I think union leaders, respectfully, must accept the premise that there’s a cost when a child is staying home,” he said. “We have examples, real human examples, of individuals and low-income families and single parent families where they have to take vacation days.”

“Those will eventually add up,” Lecce said. “So it is absolutely in the interests of the taxpayer to return that money to them to make their life a little bit better and a little less difficult during this time of turmoil.”

“And it underscores our commitment to standing with families against this escalation.” (CBC) 

 

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2020-02, austerity, currency, debt, Doug Ford, education, Green Energy, money, Ontario, spending, Stephen Lecce

Saturday April 27, 2019

May 4, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 27, 2019

Ontario budget cuts could pull millions of dollars out of Hamilton public health, child care programs

Ontario budget cuts will end an addiction counselling program for Hamilton welfare recipients and likely yank millions of provincial dollars from local child care and public health services, city officials say.

April 6, 2019

The Progressive Conservative government is shifting more of shared costs for public health and child care budgets to municipal taxpayers — the kind of move local politicians have long condemned as “downloading.”

The changes will be retroactive to April — meaning city council will likely have to choose between cutting services or forcing local taxpayers to cover extra costs, said Paul Johnson, general manager of healthy and safe communities.

Johnson said Wednesday he does not yet have enough information to predict exact budget shortfalls this year or possible changes to critical services like subsidized child care, for example.

March 19, 2019

“I have a level of frustration because I am unable to tell our councillors, our community, our residents what the next steps are or how their services may be affected,” he said. “We have many questions and we are seeking answers.”

The city will now be on the hook for a portion of $10-million in child care program costs previously fully covered by the province. Hamilton will also pay 30 per cent, rather than 25 per cent of public health program costs.

This year, local taxpayers put up $12.4 million for public health. If that number rises, council could look at program cuts, put off planned hires or dip into reserves to temporarily cover extra costs.

December 18, 2018

But Johnson said it’s too soon to “do the math” on extra costs because the city is not even sure which services will remain in the public health budget — and it is always possible the province will provide transition funding. (Ontario is also working on a plan to review responsibilities and merge municipal boards of health.)

The city is also bracing for news on budgets for Ontario Works, land ambulance and long-term care.

The only specific program casualty of the provincial cuts so far is the Addiction Services Initiative, a long-running pilot program that gives addiction counselling to welfare recipients aiming to rejoin the workforce. The province has confirmed it will no longer fund the program as of July. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2019-15, austerity, Budget, cuts, Doug Ford, Downloading, gargoyle, Ontario, pop-up book

Saturday April 13, 2019

April 20, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 13, 2019

How Doug Ford’s budget has hurt Trudeau and helped Scheer

The sound coming out of Conservative backrooms on Parliament Hill in the hours following the presentation of this week’s Ontario budget was that of a collective sigh of relief.

April 12, 2019

From Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer’s perspective, his party dodged a pre-election bullet on Thursday.

By all indications, Premier Doug Ford’s fiscal plan will provide the Trudeau Liberals with less lethal ammunition to use against their Conservative rivals in the upcoming federal campaign than they had hoped for.

Yes, the fact that Ontario will remain in the red beyond Ford’s current term in office is liable to blunt Conservative Party of Canada attacks on the ruling Liberals for accumulating deficit upon deficit since they have taken power.

But it will also make it more difficult for Trudeau to turn the tables on Scheer and predict that the election of a Conservative government would result in a fiscal bloodbath.

November 20, 2018

And yes, the course charted in Thursday’s budget will — over time — impoverish Ontario’s social services. The plan to keep the growth in program spending below the rate of inflation for the next five years cannot but result in a thinner social safety net. The province’s most vulnerable constituencies stand to be the first and the hardest hit.

But the full impact on most Ontarians of the measures sketched out on Thursday will not have been felt by the time Scheer and his Conservatives go door-knocking next fall.

July 28, 2018

In the immediate, the first batch of post-budget media analysis has left federal Conservative strategists with an embarrassment of riches to counter the Liberals’ post-budget apocalyptic scenarios.

Take this summation by my columnist colleague Martin Regg Cohn: “There are no savage cuts in the first Ford-Fedeli budget, which could easily have been delivered by former premier Dalton McGuinty back when he belatedly discovered austerity.”

Or this one from Globe and Mail columnist Tim Kiladze: “If anything, it looks more like something that would come from the Liberals he replaced — the ones he swore had been reckless with the province’s finances.”

Those comments were not written to complement the Ford Tories but to highlight the gap between their rhetoric and their actual budget. (Source: Chantal Hebert, Toronto Star) 

 

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2019-14, Andrew Scheer, austerity, Budget, Canada, Conservative, cuts, Doug Ford, Ontario, Vic Fideli

Saturday April 6, 2019

April 13, 2019 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 6, 2019

Balancing Ontario’s budget about to get painful — literally

Some are suggesting the Ford government is playing a little bait and switch with recent announcements.

April 9, 2019

As in, look over here: we’re dumping the licence plate slogan Yours to Discover for something else — maybe even Open for Business. How outrageous is that? (Based on the social media reaction, the answer is: very.)

And, look, look, we’re scrapping the provincial Trillium logo because it looks like three men in a hot tub. Crazy eh?

These would be the bait parts, intended to obscure the much bigger and altogether not humorous changes, like controversial education reforms that will reduce teacher-student interaction and eventually eliminate about 3,500 teaching positions.

Or this one: the province is studying changes to OHIP that would, among other things, drastically reduce the amount of pain-control medication available to chronic pain sufferers. And funding to remove certain types of polyps found during colonoscopies may be eliminated. Diabetes management, echocardiograms and tonsillectomies are also being examined.

Animated!

And, get this, the government may defund the practice of allowing general anesthetic for people undergoing colonoscopy testing.

The potential OHIP changes, which were revealed in an exclusive story by CityNews Toronto, are part of an effort to cut $460 million from the OHIP budget. A group of doctors and government officials are examining best practices to see where medical tests are overused or unnecessary.

Having a hard look at OHIP services makes sense. Health care, overall, is the top budget item for the province ($60 billion last year), with education not far behind. It makes sense to audit what we’re doing and paying for. But going from there to legislating more uncomfortable colonoscopies is a big leap.

With the government’s first budget coming next week, we should prepare ourselves for more news like this. Even though Doug Ford denied that getting Ontario’s books in order would be a painful process, anyone with common sense knew that wasn’t realistic.

It’s all about money. Those education reforms, which the province says will make kids more resilient? How convenient that they also save a few hundred million. Same with reducing OHIP-funded services.

But keep an eye on those OHIP changes. They may also be Ford opening the door to more private health care. Want more anesthetic with that colonoscopy? We can do that for a small fee. Need more pain management drugs? Sign right here.

What about the hidden costs of cuts like these? How many Ontarians who should get colonoscopies won’t? How many pain medication patients will turn to opiates, legal or illegal? How many people with diabetes will get sicker sooner in the absence of ongoing diabetes management programs? If the government cuts psychotherapy funding to 24 hours a year — another proposal — what will happen to patients?

We know the answer. People will get sicker, faster and more seriously. They will require more expensive, intensive intervention from the health and/or social services system. Sadly, the government is probably not studying that aspect of its budget plan. (Source: Hamilton Spectator Editorial)  

 

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2019-13, austerity, Budget, colonoscopy, Doug Ford, Ohip+, Ontario, pain, relief, restraint, sedation, surgery
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