Weighing the 'fiscal fitness' of PEI
For more details
Restoring Canada's Fiscal Fitness
Report
While Canada weathered the recent economic downturn better than most, we did not escape without scrapes and bruises. Injecting billions of taxpayer dollars to "stimulate" the economy saw the federal government sink further into debt.
When it comes to government spending, Canada sits in middle of the international pack in total government spending (38.4 per cent of GDP). The same can't be said for PEI. Not only does PEI have unsustainably high government spending, we are more dependent on government than any other developed country.
While balanced budgets should be the goal, they can easily mask unsustainable spending patterns as documented in this report. To ensure long-term fiscal sustainability, we recommend that PEI embrace the following principles to demonstrate good "fiscal fitness":
- Implement legislation that focuses on controlling expenditures, not just balancing budgets;
- Be specific enough to ensure the spirit of the legislation is followed without creating loopholes; and
- Ensure legislation focuses on long-term sustainability of government finances.
For more information please contact us at 1-888-234-2232 or mspei@cfib.ca.
