Surly Hamiltonian has been going on about Quebec's better deficit performance than Ontario for a while. This article has more evidence of just how much better Quebec is doing:
"The happier news is that this has enabled Quebec to remain on course toward its ambitious goal of balancing the provincial budget by 2013.
So far in the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, Quebec is on course to reduce its deficit to $3.8 billion, or about 1.1 per cent of the province’s total economic output.
That’s better than the average of 1.8 per cent among all provinces.
It’s far lower than in Ontario, where the estimated deficit remains uncomfortably high at about 2.5 per cent of provincial output and where budget balance isn’t predicted before 2017."
Admittedly elsewhere in the article the Quebec government is doing this by raising taxes significantly. However the Quebec deficit is remarkably close to disappearing, even in challenging economic conditions. Ontario unfortunately is continuing to lard on debt, with not a lot of relief in sight. Even sadder is that the mainstream media in Ontario is not making these comparisons.
Showing posts with label "quebec deficit". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "quebec deficit". Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Ontario's Deficits As a Percentage of GDP Versus Other Provinces
One often hears an explanation for Ontario's recent high deficits is because of the recession. Sure recessions hurt. But other provinces have suffered too, although resource rich provinces haven't suffered as much. How does Ontario compare in terms of deficits with other other provinces? This link has a great plot of provincial deficits as a percentage of GDP for 2009/2010, which covers the tail end of the recession.
One thing one notices is just how bad Ontario is compared to all the other provinces. Quebec which also has a lot of manufacturing and should have been hurt by the recession has a considerably smaller deficit as a percentage of GDP. I would be interested in digging in to why Quebec is better even during the recession. My guess is that they've had lower salary increases for public sector workers over the past few years. I'm guessing they haven't been giving physicians and teachers 3% increases the past few years. Also props to Manitoba. Not all NDP premiers are Bob Rae.
That was for 2009/2010. What about now? Here's a Star link saying the 2011/2012 (at least I think it refers to that) budget deficit will be $16 billion. Here's a Reuters article about the Quebec 2011/2012 deficit being $3.8 billion and the budget being balanced in 2013/2014 (which I'm a bit skeptical of). Adjusting for population and GDP, the Ontario number is still way worse and certainly there's no chance of the budget being balanced in 2013/2014.
One thing one notices is just how bad Ontario is compared to all the other provinces. Quebec which also has a lot of manufacturing and should have been hurt by the recession has a considerably smaller deficit as a percentage of GDP. I would be interested in digging in to why Quebec is better even during the recession. My guess is that they've had lower salary increases for public sector workers over the past few years. I'm guessing they haven't been giving physicians and teachers 3% increases the past few years. Also props to Manitoba. Not all NDP premiers are Bob Rae.
That was for 2009/2010. What about now? Here's a Star link saying the 2011/2012 (at least I think it refers to that) budget deficit will be $16 billion. Here's a Reuters article about the Quebec 2011/2012 deficit being $3.8 billion and the budget being balanced in 2013/2014 (which I'm a bit skeptical of). Adjusting for population and GDP, the Ontario number is still way worse and certainly there's no chance of the budget being balanced in 2013/2014.
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