loonie

Tuesday February 11, 2014

Tuesday February 11, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 11, 2014

Flaherty picks middle of Olympics for date of federal budget

The Conservative government will deliver an earlier-than-normal February budget in an effort to recapture the policy agenda and set the stage for a good-news pre-election budget in 2015.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced Monday afternoon that he will deliver his 2014 budget on Tuesday, Feb. 11, as he continued to play down expectations that it will include major new spending or tax cuts. The timing means the budget will be tabled during the Sochi Olympic Games, leading to opposition criticism that the Conservatives are trying to hide a “do-nothing” budget.

Conservatives stress that a low-key budget this year helps the government move toward its primary political goal, which is to announce a surplus for 2015 that is big enough to accommodate new spending and tax cuts ahead of the next election.

“There will be room for more money in the Government of Canada in the next several years because we’ve been careful,” Mr. Flaherty told reporters earlier in the day Monday. “We’ll have room to move on various issues.”

Thursday, March 21, 2013The Finance Minister repeated his claim that there is “no doubt” the budget will return to balance in the 2015-16 fiscal year and declined to answer when asked whether a surplus might appear one year early. Some private-sector economists have said that a balanced budget in 2014-15 is possible, depending on how the economy performs.

Over the past year, the Conservative government has made several attempts to reset its agenda and move attention away from the continuing Senate scandal. Moves such as a cabinet shuffle last July, a Throne Speech in October and a major trade deal with the European Union all failed to divert the public’s attention. (Source: Globe & Mail)

Thursday October 15, 2009

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday October 15, 2009 Big problems in higher dollar There is a certain giddiness attached to a soaring Canadian dollar, with visions of cheaper trips to Florida or New York for those who canÊafford to travel. There is also a degree of smugness about us doing better than the Americans in managing the economy. We should dismiss such thoughts, however. The fact is that a higher-valued dollar is a disaster for Ontario's economy, based as it is onÊexports of manufactured goods into the U.S. market. Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) estimates that, for every hike of oneÊcent in the value of our dollar, 25,000 factory jobs are lost. And since the beginning of this year, the loonie has gone up 15 cents. Partly this is attributable to our better fiscal situation, in comparison to the tax-averse Americans. (The U.S. deficit Ð a staggering $1.6Êtrillion this year Ð is "unsustainable," according to the Congressional Budget Office.) And partly it can be traced to rising prices forÊcommodities, particularly oil, for the loonie is now a "petro-dollar." For manufacturers, this is a double whammy: the higher dollar makes their products less competitive in the American market, and higherÊoil prices drive up their costs. "Canadian manufacturers are really caught between a rock and a hard place," says CME President Jayson Myers. Prime Minister StephenÊHarper notes the "difficult effects" on the economy. (Source: Toronto Star) Canada, Dollar, loonie, strength, strong, imports, exports, fish, skeleton, bones, economy

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday October 15, 2009

Big problems in higher dollar

There is a certain giddiness attached to a soaring Canadian dollar, with visions of cheaper trips to Florida or New York for those who can afford to travel. There is also a degree of smugness about us doing better than the Americans in managing the economy.

We should dismiss such thoughts, however. The fact is that a higher-valued dollar is a disaster for Ontario’s economy, based as it is on exports of manufactured goods into the U.S. market. Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) estimates that, for every hike of one cent in the value of our dollar, 25,000 factory jobs are lost. And since the beginning of this year, the loonie has gone up 15 cents.

Partly this is attributable to our better fiscal situation, in comparison to the tax-averse Americans. (The U.S. deficit – a staggering $1.6 trillion this year – is “unsustainable,” according to the Congressional Budget Office.) And partly it can be traced to rising prices for commodities, particularly oil, for the loonie is now a “petro-dollar.”

For manufacturers, this is a double whammy: the higher dollar makes their products less competitive in the American market, and higher oil prices drive up their costs.

“Canadian manufacturers are really caught between a rock and a hard place,” says CME President Jayson Myers. Prime Minister Stephen Harper notes the “difficult effects” on the economy. (Source: Toronto Star)