Bains says he’s taking action on innovation promises in 2018
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains has been busy in 2018. Last year’s budget included major investments in industry programs, and the four-term MP from Mississauga-Malton, Ont., has spent this year overseeing their implementation. That includes the Strategic Innovation Fund, a $1.26-billion pot of money meant to support “cutting edge” projects, the subject of a major lobbying […]
Delighted with 2018 budget, scientists eye funding for ‘open’ grant competitions as next step
The 2018 federal budget gave new hope to Canadian scientists, but they knew their job as advocates wasn’t done. “We were definitely pleased with the results. There was a lot of money there for science,” said Katie Gibbs, executive director of research advocacy group Evidence for Democracy. “But we are all realistic that there is still […]
Can young voters break out of the trickle-down trap?
OTTAWA—Assessing the way the rich and the corporate-CEO class have reshaped the distribution of income in their favour, contributing to today’s glaring wealth gap, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz put it like this: “Those at the top have learned how to suck out money from the rest in ways that the rest are hardly aware […]
Brison’s $7-billion budget vote weakens parliamentary scrutiny of spending: current, ex-PBO
The Liberal government’s effort to align the budget with the main estimates has weakened an already broken system by creating a “massive central vote” that hands $7-billion to the Treasury Board with no scrutiny and nothing to compel promised spending, say Canada’s current and former parliamentary budget officers. Critics have said the “budget implementation vote” […]
PBO preparing to tackle challenge of costing party platforms in 2019, with lessons learned by recent practice run
Questions remain over how the parliamentary budget officer’s new responsibility to cost party platforms during the next federal election will shake out, but the office is already busy preparing, with a practice-run recently completed and plans to double its staff and strike information-sharing agreements with departments underway. “It’s going to be the first time ever […]
Liberals underestimating cost of changes to low-income workers’ tax benefit by $1-billion: PBO
A new report from the office of the parliamentary budget officer suggests the federal government is underestimating the cost of proposed changes to its highly touted Working Income Tax Benefit program by more than $1-billion over the next five years. The PBO study, one of three papers released by the fiscal watchdog on April 23, […]
Feds lowballing parliamentary budget officer’s salary, say ex-PBO officials
The government is looking to pay the next parliamentary budget officer way less than it should, which could lead to it picking the wrong person for the job, say a former PBO and his ex-deputy. As the government searches for a replacement to parliamentary budget officer Jean-Denis Fréchette, whose five-year term expires in September, his […]
Federal spending up two per cent, hits $276.6-billion in main estimates for 2018-19
Federal spending is up by roughly two per cent this fiscal year, reaching an estimated $276.6-billion for 2018-19, with funding for the House of Commons and the Senate up by 6.5 per cent and five per cent, respectively, as set out in this year’s main estimates. The 2018-19 main estimates were tabled on April 16 […]
Politics This Morning: PM to attend QP; Sohi to make infrastructure announcement in Toronto; Petitpas Taylor to mark national immunization awareness week in Toronto; Parliamentary Centre to celebrate its 50th anniversary
It’s Monday! After whirlwind trips to Peru, France, and the U.K. last week, followed by the Liberal Party’s weekend national policy convention in Halifax, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is back in Ottawa today and is scheduled to attend Question Period in the House at 2:15 p.m. (EST). Two ministers are in Toronto today: Infrastructure Minister […]
Feds have an opportunity to fund health performance measurement, reporting across Canada
In the 1990s, then-health minister Allan Rock proposed a report card for the Canadian health-care system that would track indicators such as utilization and re-admission rates, average lengths of stay, health outcomes, and quality assurance. However, his proposal failed to gain traction. In the last 20 years, countries like the United States and the United […]
