Government Debt: Public Finances

Government Debt Dept: The news release for the gathering at least paid lip service to the issue, noting that premiers agreed on the need for a careful and responsible approach to the management of public finances by all governments. If only the premiers walked the walk. Canadians need leadership willing to reduce government debt, according to Vancouver Sun. Here we are three-and-a-half years after the recession officially ended and governments are still running deficits and piling on more debt. This fiscal year 2012/13 , the federal and nearly every provincial government expect to be in deficit; Saskatchewan is the only exception. Unfortunately, the trend may continue as some governments have plans to continue running deficits into the foreseeable future and when Canada s premiers met recently in Halifax, talks of a possible pipeline to move oil from Alberta to Eastern Canada dominated national headlines. There was also mention of talks about trade, immigration, skills training, and infrastructure. One issue that didn t receive nearly as much attention is the management of public finances and growing government debt. The state of public finances across the country underscores a worrying trend of growing government direct debt since 2007/08. Starting in 2008/09 the federal and most provincial governments began running a string of consecutive deficits. While a recession can lead to temporary deficits as revenues decline and some spending automatically increases, governments exacerbated the problem with large increases in stimulus spending. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.