Canada Kicks Ass
Fiscal Record of Canadian Political Parties

REPLY

1  2  3  4  5  Next



andyt @ Sun May 01, 2011 6:11 pm

http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2011/04/29/fiscal-record-of-canadian-political-parties/

$1:
With all the recent news stories — as well as alarm raised by other leaders — about the fiscal and economic impact and record of NDP governments, I decided to take a look at and review the fiscal record of all federal and provincial governments in Canada for the past three decades.

These results may be surprising to some: they show that NDP governments have the best fiscal record of all political parties that have formed federal or provincial government in Canada.

Of the 52 years the NDP has formed governments in Canada since 1980, they’ve run balanced budgets for exactly half of those years and deficits the other half. This is a better record than both the Conservatives (balanced budgets 37% of years in government) and the Liberals (only 27%), as well as both Social Credit and PQ governments. See first chart below.

It’s not just the number of years of balance that is relevant: it’s also the size of the deficits or surpluses that are important. For this, the most important figure is the size of deficits as a share of GDP.

For this measure as well, NDP governments have the best record. The average balance (deficit) as a share of provincial GDP for the 52 years of NDP governments in Canada is -0.77%, compared to -1.82% for all Liberal governments and -0.82% for all Conservative governments over the past thirty years. See second chart below.

   



CDN_PATRIOT @ Sun May 01, 2011 6:20 pm

I call B.S. on this. Apparently these people compiling this list forgot about the fiasco in Ontario when Bob Rae ran the show.

If the NDP win, Canada is fucked. Period.

-J.

   



Lemmy @ Sun May 01, 2011 6:32 pm

I'd want to see how these numbers were crunched before I'd put much stock in it. While it's absolutely true that the Conservatives have, historically, had the worst fiscal responsibility, they've also historically governed during the worst economic times. Most Liberal economic success has come from their good fortune to govern during the boom periods of the business cycle. Even a turkey can fly in strong enough wind.

Also, government debts have become relatively much large, yearly, since the '70s. So a $15M deficit 30 years ago is a much bigger deal than a $100M deficit today. Since the NDP hasn't goverened nearly as frequently in the 2000s, it's a bit of an unfair comparison. The NDP will have a natural advantage in this calculation by virtue of NOT governing so much lately, in the era of highest debt world-wide.

   



andyt @ Sun May 01, 2011 6:41 pm

I don't expect to just take this at face value, but it does challenge the idea put out by the Conservatives that they're such great money managers and the NDP so terrible. You, if anybody, should be able to get the raw numbers, Lemmy. Just call up your fellow labor economist (as I presume Sanger is) and you could enlighten us.

   



Lemmy @ Sun May 01, 2011 6:50 pm

Oh, agree and do my best to pooh-pooh the myth that Conservatives are more fiscally responsible at every turn. But the business cycle hasn't been kind to them and is out of anyone's control. And enlightenment means different things to different folks, andy.

   



Bodah @ Sun May 01, 2011 6:54 pm

Of course the NDP has a good fiscal record, since they've rarely governed.

But when the do "Rae Days" they pull out all the stops.

   



Lemmy @ Sun May 01, 2011 7:01 pm

You're against "Rae Days", Bodah?

   



Bodah @ Sun May 01, 2011 7:30 pm

Lemmy Lemmy:
You're against "Rae Days", Bodah?

No I loved them. They put an end to my pursuit of career in the FD because I had the wrong coloured penis.

But I'll admit fiscally the only thing I know of during their stint, is they had no money to pay for all the promises they made to unions. And the unions ended up turning on them.

But if your going to give me a fiscal history of what they did or didn't do, go for it.

   



Lemmy @ Sun May 01, 2011 7:39 pm

They didn't overspend on promises to unions. They fucked the unions. They overspent on tons of other stupid shit. Then the NDP balanced the books on the backs of the public employees who'd elected them, so of course they got turned on. I just figured that laying off public employees to balance the books would be a Conservatives' wet dream.

   



Arctic_Menace @ Sun May 01, 2011 7:50 pm

Bodah Bodah:
Lemmy Lemmy:
You're against "Rae Days", Bodah?

No I loved them. They put an end to my pursuit of career in the FD because I had the wrong coloured penis.


There are several things wrong with this statement, but what the hell, carry on grumpy. :roll:

   



Bodah @ Sun May 01, 2011 8:43 pm

Arctic_Menace Arctic_Menace:
There are several things wrong with this statement, but what the hell, carry on grumpy. :roll:


You have no clue what the NDP tried to do back then in Ontario regarding the FD & PD do you son ? How old where you back in the early 90's. 1 maybe 2 years old if that ?

   



ShepherdsDog @ Sun May 01, 2011 9:00 pm

voting is just fad for most of them, as evidenced by the vote mob. Listening to most of them being interviewed, one realizes that many don't have clue about the issues or reality. It really drives home the adage: If you're not a liberal when you're 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative when you're 40, you have no head.

   



SteveK @ Sun May 01, 2011 10:00 pm

I hope voting IS just a fad for most of them since many young voters are so ill-informed. However, oddly, I've had the opposite experience.
Many of the people my age that I've talked to have no idea what they're voting for, so they're just voting Conservative since that's what mommy and daddy told them to do. From my perspective, if you vote Conservative, you have no head as you let others do the thinking for you. It doesn't necessarily mean they're more mature as that adage seems to imply.

When young voters are well-informed and given the opportunity to think freely, they're more inclined to vote Liberal. I don't see what the problem with that is because a parliament should be representative of ALL age groups (of voting age, at least). Issues and "reality" depend on the person. Not because those who are older know better, but because situations are unique to the individual. My reality as a college student is much different than your reality, for example.

Anyway, back to the topic. I think the statistics in the article are somewhat misleading, and probably don't take enough into account. Like Bodah brought up, the NDP has formed a government far fewer times, so logically it would be likely for them to make less mistakes with balancing the budget. However, just looking at the economic history of the Harper government itself should get Canadians to question the Cons reputation of being "fiscally responsible".

   



Arctic_Menace @ Sun May 01, 2011 10:17 pm

Bodah Bodah:
Arctic_Menace Arctic_Menace:
There are several things wrong with this statement, but what the hell, carry on grumpy. :roll:


You have no clue what the NDP tried to do back then in Ontario regarding the FD & PD do you son ? How old where you back in the early 90's. 1 maybe 2 years old if that ?


1) What you're saying now has nothing to do with the part of your post I quoted and took issue with.

2) I've learned enough about Rae Days from the continual cringing of people on this site.

3) Mike Harris did nothing to better Ontario. We're still paying for his mistakes today.

   



commanderkai @ Mon May 02, 2011 12:13 am

Arctic_Menace Arctic_Menace:
3) Mike Harris did nothing to better Ontario. We're still paying for his mistakes today.


How does what Mike Harris did/did not do discount the view of Bob Rae being pretty bad?

   



REPLY

1  2  3  4  5  Next