[UtakataNoAnnex]

Mark Carney's finance minister outlines "ambitious" $21.5 billion in annual cuts by 2028 to balance defence spending

The Liberal government wants to find at least $21.5 billion in annual savings from the federal budget by 2028, according to a letter sent from the finance minister to all

www.thestar.com

Paywall free: https://archive.is/GP7MJ

Good. For starters let’s cut the civil service back to the ratio to population it was pre-Justin.

Federal Public Service Size vs. Population​

Year	Federal Public Servants	Canadian Population	Ratio (Servants per 1,000 People)
2014	~257,000	~35.5 million	7.2 per 1,000 people
2024	~357,000	~40.1 million	8.9 per 1,000 people

Throwing people out of work won't help the economy though. It will just makes things worse.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Throwing people out of work won't help the economy though. It will just makes things worse.

AIUI, Carney’s more focused on attrition. I bet the average age of the CPS is up there. I have four friends who all joined the CRA when we graduated university in 1995 who are now well into their 50s. They’ll take a package tomorrow and hit the beach.

 

[Northern Light]

Mark Carney's finance minister outlines "ambitious" $21.5 billion in annual cuts by 2028 to balance defence spending

The Liberal government wants to find at least $21.5 billion in annual savings from the federal budget by 2028, according to a letter sent from the finance minister to all

www.thestar.com

Paywall free: https://archive.is/GP7MJ

Good. For starters let’s cut the civil service back to the ratio to population it was pre-Justin.

Federal Public Service Size vs. Population​

Year	Federal Public Servants	Canadian Population	Ratio (Servants per 1,000 People)
2014	~257,000	~35.5 million	7.2 per 1,000 people
2024	~357,000	~40.1 million	8.9 per 1,000 people

Reducing to the pre-Justin level would yield a 19% reduction in civil servants at the Federal level, though whether that would yield the same or similar savings in total costs is a bit more murky.

But its worth adding, any one year's comparison is invariably a bit random.

The tail end of the Harper years may have been average, above-average or below average.

One needs to see a few more dots on the chart to assess the relative merits of the numbers.

 

[Northern Light]

Obviously you should lock yourself in there if you keep dragging this on.

Ok.....pretty please, stop.

I get it, the other person didn't, but if you both keep thinking that if you get in the last word its better/fairer, it will never end.

 

[picard102]

Poor us damn right. If you really think Canada 15–20 years ago wasn't a much better place than Canada today I have nothing to say to you.

Things looked better 15-20 years ago because 20-30 years ago they sold out the future to ensure their own comfort. Every issue we have now can be traced back to neoliberalism and cuts to public services.

 

[guavadelic]

Moving things along, the Globe and Mail is out with a report that Cabinet Ministers are being asked to find significant operating budget savings.

This is a very big ask. Unclear to me is whether this includes transfers to individuals.

Which would make this a much larger number; but its already a big one.

Somethings gotta give when it comes to the big increase in spending. They won't be able to cut enough to cover the defense spending increase, and borrowing that much isn't sustainable. I don't see how they avoid raising some form of taxes.
The CD Howe Institute proposed a 2-percent increase to the federal sales tax in their report last week. Won't be incredibly popular but it's probably the least painful option in their arsenal of tools and they could likely sell it to the public if it's tied to an increase in defense spending.

 

[Richard White]

Somethings gotta give when it comes to the big increase in spending. They won't be able to cut enough to cover the defense spending increase, and borrowing that much isn't sustainable. I don't see how they avoid raising some form of taxes.
The CD Howe Institute proposed a 2-percent increase to the federal sales tax in their report last week. Won't be incredibly popular but it's probably the least painful option in their arsenal of tools and they could likely sell it to the public if it's tied to an increase in defense spending.

They need a VAT tax.

Here in Hungary 27% is added onto the bill whenever you buy something be it a bottle of water or a car.

Yes we have 13% HST but my point here is that something has got to give.

Raising income taxes will only annoy people while a specialized tax such as a levy will bring out the "liberals tax us to death" nutjobs.

At least let it be somewhat discretionary. The only caveat is that they will need to have meaningful dispensation of those funds with spending cuts.

They will need to cut budgets for ministers and other spending as a show of good faith while applying any tax revenue to things that help Canadians.

Unfortunately, this is a problem of our own making and we need to find a way out of it.

I wonder if they could sell this as a debt repayment tax (i.e. takes to pay down the national debt).

 

[Admiral Beez]

Reducing to the pre-Justin level would yield a 19% reduction in civil servants at the Federal level

It would be a good start.

Looking at the above, and considering the dramatic cuts to the study permits and TFW programs, hopefully we can cut back that 105% increase at IRCC.... but only after we process the backlog and remove anyone whose asylum claim has been rejected. We don't need an underclass of undocumented workers acting as a pillar of the economy.

 

[Mihairokov]

Poor us damn right. If you really think Canada 15–20 years ago wasn't a much better place than Canada today I have nothing to say to you. The grass looks a lot greener right now in places like Switzerland,

Hey, if you think homes in Canada are expensive...isn't it impossible to become a Swiss citizen, as well?

Poland or

Are people seriously considering moving to Poland in any serious numbers? I've never heard of this occurring.

Japan.

A country that will never culturally accept you despite wearing you down professionally to the point that you don't even want to have a family?

Like, I get that it's in vogue to complain about Canada right now for a slew of reasons but all Western countries are currently on the decline because neoliberalism has stripped them of all of their value and left only scraps for those entering the market - for anything. The conversation on this page about firing 20% of federal public servants, just because I guess?, is a good show of that mindset and why we are here today.

Reducing to the pre-Justin level would yield a 19% reduction

I think referring to the former PM in this way gives away your hand a bit, IMO.

Things looked better 15-20 years ago because 20-30 years ago they sold out the future to ensure their own comfort. Every issue we have now can be traced back to neoliberalism and cuts to public services.

Literally all anglosphere countries began declining on a number of QOL fronts in the 1980s. Anyone here can take a wild stab at why that is.

 

[Northern Light]

I think referring to the former PM in this way gives away your hand a bit, IMO.

I don't think it does at all, and I'm profoundly insulted at the suggestion.

I'm clear on my stands on every issue. I'm unambiguously non-partisan, though have no time for the current iteration of the Conservative party.

My positions are never hidden, implying such betrays a very poor debating style and propensity for being inflammatory.

You needn't have looked hard for the reason I said 'pre-Justin' in my post.........its because the post to which I was responding used that exact terminology.

Literally all anglosphere countries began declining on a number of QOL fronts in the 1980s. Anyone here can take a wild stab at why that is.

Thatcherism and Reaganomics aka neo-liberalism.

 

[Irishmonk]

It should be noted that Canada's population increased by roughly 16% under Trudeau 2, (35.7m to 41m) so the civil service expansion isn't that far out of wack.

 

[picard102]

It would be a good start.

And we're going to reduce services delivered by how much to accommodate a smaller workforce? Should we start with services seniors rely on, or just everyone under 50?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Are people seriously considering moving to Poland in any serious numbers? I've never heard of this occurring.

Let's take a Pole?

Does anyone else feel that the mood on this forum trends towards raging, venting and gloom. Mihairokov, when you got all that soap boxing off your chest, did you feel any better? Better, not worse is how you want to feel when you close down the page, IMO.

I for one have been feeling optimistic for the country. We dodged having a rightwing CPC government, the nation is more united than ever in the face of Trumpian aggression, we have proper and experienced global economist as PM who is building new alliances and relationships across the country and world.

 

[81-717]

Hey, if you think homes in Canada are expensive...isn't it impossible to become a Swiss citizen, as well?

Are people seriously considering moving to Poland in any serious numbers? I've never heard of this occurring.

I don't know about housing cost (though I doubt they're dealing with the same housing crisis we are), but I just wanna live in a place without the constant fear of violent crime let alone national security threats.

A country that will never culturally accept you?

I know, and I certainly don't fault them for being so protective of their culture & national security, I just really wish the west did the same with theirs. And if I were to move to Japan, I would of course make an effort to learn the language and adapt to the culture.

 

[Northern Light]

I don't know about housing cost (though I doubt they're dealing with the same housing crisis we are), but I just wanna live in a place without the constant fear of violent crime let alone national security threats.

Ok....this over-the-top stuff needs to end on all sides.

Toronto is one of the safest cities on the planet.

We're on pace to have fewer than 40 homicides this year, the lowest in more than 40 years.

At a homicide rate of 1.6 per 100,000 residents compared to 4 in Berlin and 4.5 in Paris.

We're also at our lowest level of firearm discharges/shootings in at least 5 years, fully 36% below last year.

Assaults are in the middle of the last 5 years, but down 3.5% year over year, and low by global standards.

I know, and I certainly don't fault them for being so protective of their culture & immigration policy, I just really wish the west did the same with theirs. And if I were to move to Japan, I would of course make an effort to learn the language and adapt to the culture.

For the record, becoming a Swiss Citizen is not impossible. It requires 10 years of legal residency, no criminal record and proof of fluency in one of the Swiss official languages (and lots of paper work)

On cost of housing. Median house prices in Geneva run around $5,000,000 CAD and median rents around $6,700 per month.

However, the median household income in Geneva is ~$17,000CAD... per month. vs about $8,000 in Toronto.