Jack Mintz: A budget of massive spending and not one dollar helping competitiveness fpcomment
As federal budgets go, the 2019–20 pre-election document presented by Minister of Finance Bill Morneau on Tuesday was humdrum affair, with nothing harmful nor helpful for the average voter in putting food on the table. The deficit continues at roughly $20 billion annually over the next two years with federal net debt as a share of GDP holding steady at a bit more than 30 per cent of GDP. Federal gross liabilities, though, are a whopping $1.
I can understand why the government may not want to discuss productivity, which was emphasized during the Chrétien and Harper years. The Trudeau government’s focus has been on redistribution, to make the rich pay more. And this budget offered yet one more soak-the-rich measure, with a rather odd tax treatment of stock options for highly paid executives. But like most attempts to stick it to the wealthy, people will find ways to avoid it and it won’t stop executives from cashing in.
The budget thus fails to fully address competitiveness issues facing industry. There are some innovative policies planned with respect to so-called “Regulatory Roadmaps” that specify some specific areas for reform, but it is unclear those will sufficiently address the areas where Canada does worst on international rankings: timely approval of permits, completion of contracts and getting goods to tidewater . The finance minister has made clear that he has no plans for future tax reform.
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