Finance Minister – mackaycartoons

Thursday, March 20, 2014

March 20, 2014 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, March 20, 2014

Joe Oliver to replace Jim Flaherty as finance minister

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver will become the federal government’s new finance minister, replacing Jim Flaherty who announced his resignation earlier on Tuesday, CBC News has learned.

Oliver will be named finance minister on Wednesday in Ottawa.

The Toronto MP is a relative newcomer to politics, having been elected in 2011. But he was quickly promoted into cabinet, taking over the natural resources ministry, which included the important Keystone pipeline file.

Oliver may be a compatible choice for Bay Street, which seeks continuity and stability. Oliver spent most of his career as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch and, at one time, was president and chief executive officer of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada.

He was also executive director of the Ontario Securities Commission.

His schooling includes an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law at McGill University.

Oliver, who is fluently bilingual, will become Harper’s second finance minister — Flaherty having held the position since the Tories came into power. In a statement, Flaherty said he was resigning from cabinet to prepare for work in the private sector.

Oliver, who at the age of 73 has no leadership aspirations, could also be considered a safe choice, as the position would certainly improve the chances of a potential candidate to eventually replace the prime minister.

Oliver will also be positioned to deliver a balanced budget, which is expected next year. (Source: CBC News)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Posted to National Newswatch.

Wednesday November 14, 2012

November 14, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 14, 2012

Canada has contingency plan for fiscal cliff

Canada has a contingency plan should the United States not reach an agreement with respect to a series of tax hikes and spending cuts set to kick in next year or if the eurozone’s debt crisis worsens, finance minister Jim Flaherty said on Tuesday.

“I can assure you, we have contingency plans. This is not a new subject for us. We have been concerned about this subject for many months. And we prepare. So we have contingency plans not only with respect to the fiscal cliff, but with respect to the European situation were that to unravel in a disorderly way,” Flaherty told a news conference in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Flaherty’s comments follow his warning last week that a failure by U.S. politicians to reach a fiscal deal before Jan.1 will plunge the United States into a recession quickly, with Canada to follow shortly afterward.

“Were the entire fiscal cliff risk to become reality, the effect on U.S. GDP, according to the Americans themselves, would be 4 to 5%, which would put the U.S. economy into recession quite quickly and the Canadian would follow shortly thereafter,” Flaherty told reporters in Ottawa last Wednesday.

“We’re all concerned that it’s an immediate problem within the next 60 days that needs to be dealt with.”

There are estimates that going over this fiscal cliff would reduce U.S. gross domestic product by about four or five percentage points.

Flaherty said finding compromise won’t be easy for American politicians, but he pointed out that the Harper government was able govern for five years as a minority, so it can be done. Gridlock in Washington could prevent a deal to extend about US$600-billion in tax cuts and spending beyond Dec. 31. (Source: Financial Post)

Wednesday May 16, 2012

May 16, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 16, 2012

Jim Flaherty’s ‘no bad job’ EI comment

The Harper government is trying to douse a growing political firestorm over the finance minister’s claim that “there is no bad job,” insisting Canadians on Employment Insurance will be expected to take jobs in keeping with their skill levels and in the areas where they live.

The Conservatives also contend they don’t know the long-term cost-savings of increasing Old Age Security eligibility to age 67 from 65 — despite maintaining the current system is unsustainable — but said an estimate is likely to come over the next few months.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has come under heavy fire this week for saying — as the government contemplates reforms to the EI program — that there is no such thing as a bad job.

The NDP accused Flaherty of proposing a “nanny state” in which unemployed Canadians will lose their EI benefits unless they reluctantly accept jobs for which they are overqualified or leave their home regions to find work.

The federal budget bill, which is weaving its way through the House of Commons, gives Cabinet the power to define what is considered “suitable employment” — which could affect whether a person qualifies for EI and the benefits they are paid.

A definition of what is deemed suitable employment will be announced in the coming months. Flaherty told Canadians this week: “There is no bad job. The only bad job is not having a job,” noting he once drove a taxi and refereed hockey.

On Tuesday, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley seemingly took a step back from those comments and tried to reassure Canadians seeking EI that they won’t be forced to take jobs outside their skill sets or regions. (Source: National Post)

Letter to the Editor:

The cartoon is both offensive and condescending to people who actually do the jobs the cartoonist depicted. Doesn’t he realize there are people who do the thankless but necessary jobs that he depicted in his cartoon as “bad jobs?” Was he ever thankful that the portable toilet he used was cleaned by someone prior to his use? Or the dead carcasses on the public road were cleared off before his car hit one? These are not “bad jobs.” These are absolutely necessary and good jobs done by someone who never got a thank you for doing their jobs. Certainly sometimes some people are stuck with jobs they don’t enjoy. But these are not “bad jobs.” They still need to be done. If people are not enjoying the jobs they are doing, at least they can do it as a transition temporarily while looking for another they would enjoy more. There is nothing wrong with working for a living, whatever the job is.

William Liang, Hamilton

Saturday March 31, 2012

March 31, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday March 31, 2012

A tale of two budgets

Toward the end of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget presentation Thursday, a co-worker stopped at one of the newsroom TVs showing the speech. “So, how bad is it?”

That’s what every government budget boils down to for most of us, doesn’t it? How much is it going to cost me, how much is it going to hurt.

Neither of the two budgets that came down on Ontario this week caused the general public any immediate cost or monetary pain. Beyond that, they were as different as night and day.

The Ontario budget of Finance Minister Dwight Duncan went short term, abandoning good sense for mere political survival.

It looked out only a year or two to the day when the Liberals believe their minority government will probably fall and they face another election.

The federal budget of Jim Flaherty took the long, long view, looking generations down the road to our grandchildren. Flaherty talked, and acted, as though he had made decisions regarding fiscal stability which would last a lifetime much longer than his own.

Duncan postponed Ontario’s difficult decisions, and put off the day the province will confront its gigantic structural deficit, which will continue at $15 billion per year until it takes major steps to rein in public spending.

Duncan claimed his deficit will be gone by 2018, after tough government spending decisions are made that he hasn’t tackled yet, and if this economy recovers. Neither outcome is likely given the track record of his government. (Source: Windsor Star)

Friday March 30, 2012

March 30, 2012 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday March 30, 2012

Budget confirms Old Age Security push to age 67

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is pushing ahead with the government’s plan to raise the eligibility of Old Age Security to 67 from 65, in an effort to make it sustainable for future generations.

The change, which also applies to the Guaranteed Income Supplement, was confirmed in Thursday’s federal budget. It will affect anyone born on or after April 1, 1958.

“We want to make sure OAS is there for people in the future, and to ensure that it’s there for people when they need it,” Flaherty said.

OAS reform will be gradually phased in over a six-year period, starting in April 2023.

Flaherty said OAS will come under huge strain as the Baby Boomer generation, with its sheer size and longer life expectancy, leaves the workforce and its poorest members seek the security program for added financial assistance.

“The Old Age Security program was designed for a much different demographic future than Canada faces today,” Flaherty said in prepared remarks.

“In the 1970s there were seven workers for every one person over the age of 65. In 20 years there will be only two. In 1970 life expectancy was age 69 for men and 76 for women. Today it is 79 for men and 83 for women. At the same time, Canada’s birth rate is falling.”

The government maintains that without reform, the OAS program will increase from a total cost of $38 billion in 2011 to $108 billion in 2030. (Source: CTV News)