Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has announced that the deficit will not be eliminated as quickly as the government had promised. The plan to get out of deficit was based on an assumption that the economy will continue to improve at a certain rate. As has become increasingly clear the economy is not going to improve sufficiently. Who could have possibly have predicted that this would happen?
Oh wait…
I did!
And I wasn’t the only one.
Hell, anyone paying half attention to what was happening in Europe and the United States even back in April could have easily predicted that the Ministry of Finance’s optimist was misplaced. The only thing I can conclude is that no on at the Ministry reads financial news.
History has shown, time and time again, that deficit slaying does not take place on the back of economic growth alone. Real cuts and hard decisions have to be made. If the Government of Canada truly wants to put its finances in order, it has to be far more proactive.