As different sides High-income Canadians and businesses have of the political spectrum present their cases, the been richly rewarded for their sacrifices in the government appears content, in the words of fight against the deficit with the program of the C. D. Howe Institute, to "let the debate be- $100 billion in tax cuts that was introduced in gin." 2000. [...] The chapters of the ing for health care to the provinces with an in- 2005 AFB are dedicated to outlining priorities crease of almost $10 billion over the next three in a range of social programs and infrastruc- years, the Canada Social Transfer remains the 6. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Alternative Federal Budget 2005: It's Time poor cousin of the Canada Health Transfer. [...] The following provides a summary Canada's local governments that ultimately suf- of the key measures needed to eliminate pov- fered the major brunt of federal and provincial erty in Canada and a summary of the main downloading, as is shown in the chapter on Fed- measures in the different chapters of the AFB. [...] The sponsibilities from the federal to the provincial AFB will build on the great generosity shown to the municipal level without the accompany- by Canadians in responding to the tsunami dis- ing funds, crumbling infrastructure, and accel- aster by increasing development assistance by erating inequality between individuals, commu- 12%-15% per year in order to reach the goal of nities and provinces [...] Reductions in federal government departed from the pledge employment insurance benefits and the elimi- of 50/50 cost-sharing in the late 1970s and early nation of the Canada Assistance Plan have 1980s, but it was forced into sharp relief by the shifted the burden of dealing with unemploy- substantial cuts in Ottawa's share of funding ment and poverty away from the federal gov- imposed in the 1995.

This one-volume history chronicles a 150-year history of dramatic changes in fortune and attitudes in western Canada. From the Riel Rebellions and the Winnipeg General Strike to the founding of the CCF, Social Credit, and Reform parties, Canada's West has always been a hotbed of political, social, and economic change. In the early twentieth century those calls for change emanated from the left as farmers and workers fought for social and economic justice. In the past two decades, the protests and calls for change emanated from the right as the region gained a new role for itself in Canada. This history chronicles the rise and fall of such figures as Grant Devine, Bill Vander Zalm, Glen Clark, Roy Romanow, Stockwell Day, and Lorne Calvert -- and the emergence of Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives. It describes how the West, the political wellspring of progressive changes over the years, has been transformed into the bastion of the right, culminating in the virtual annihilation of the NDP in Saskatchewan, the cradle of social democracy in Canada. This is the updated fourth edition of John Conway's classic book originally published under the titleThe West.

Public reporting has been used experimentally in federal-provincial relations since the mid-1990s as an accountability mechanism to promote policy effectiveness, intergovernmental cooperation, and democratic legitimacy. Our understanding of how well it is working, however, remains limited to very specific policy sectors – even though this information is essential to policy makers in Canada and beyond. Overpromising and Underperforming? offers a deeper analysis of the use of new accountability mechanisms, paying particular attention to areas in which federal spending power is used. This is the first volume to specifically analyse the accountability features of Canadian intergovernmental agreements and to do so systematically across policy sectors. Drawing on the experiences of other federal systems and multilevel governance structures, the contributors investigate how public reporting has been used in various policy fields and the impact it has had on policy-making and intergovernmental relations.

Modest in- We know that child care is vital to parents' creases in taxes on the 10% of individuals with success in breaking into the workforce, yet for the highest incomes - those with incomes over all of the government's good intentions, the sys- $100,000 - and a partial roll-back of the cor- tem remains fragmented and ineffective. [...] The structure of the funding The record in health care and elsewhere shows formula reflects the education ideology of the that successful attempts at reform cost more in Harris era. [...] As we have al- The McGuinty Liberals made a commitment ready noted, Matthews links the need for so- in the 2004 provincial budget to build a strong cial assistance to "failures in other sectors of economy and to ensure that people in Ontario government and society, and conversely, the enjoy a high standard of living. [...] Restoring the integrity of the abilities; workers' compensation system and ensuring • establishing a minimum wage loss benefit; that employers assume the responsibility for • eliminating the deeming of wages as the and costs of the program will provide the gov- basis for the calculation of benefits; ernment with more fiscal freedom in redesign- • indexing benefits to the cost of living; ing the so [...] The jurisdiction and the authority respon- expanded service target is half of the child sible for delivery of services, and the population 0-12 by the end of year 10.

Kyoto protocol and promote a sophisticated, The AFB thus urges Paul Martin to base his environmentally sustainable economy; budget projections on independent assessments • rebuild and stabilize the funding for Cana- conducted by the Auditor-General, enhancing da's national cultural institutions; the transparency of federal budgets and hence • restore and enhance the fairness of the tax the public' [...] A full 44% of the "fiscal At the same time that it was repaying pub- dividend" enjoyed by the federal government lic debt, the federal government implemented in the five years after balancing its books has $100 billion in tax cuts over five years as the gone to debt reduction, with another 46% to key method of distributing and eliminating the tax cuts. [...] For years 2005 and beyond, we use the Economic and Fiscal Up- The Fiscal Outlook of the AFB date's estimates of real GDP growth.4 The interest rate is the final macroeconomic With these macroeconomic assumptions in variable that plays a decisive role in the federal place, the second step of the AFB process is to budget. [...] However, with the addi- a capital asset, the full expense of the asset is tional borrowing undertaken for CIFA, the not recorded in the year in which the purchase total stock of federally-guaranteed debt in- is made. [...] It is important to note, however, that the pected life of 40 years out of its program spend- federal debt burden, including the CIFA, falls ing budget, $125 million would show up in throughout the AFB forecast as a share of GDP program expenses for each of the 40 years of (from about 42% of GDP at present to 37.4% the expected life of the asset.

Introduction: Gendered Budgets; Women and BC's Economy; It's About Time; Men and Women in the Labour ... ; Trends in the "Official" Eco ... ; Women and the BC Budget; Public Sector Employment; Education and Training; Care Work; Deregulation of Employment S ... ; Social Assistance; Legal Services; BC Budget and Fiscal Framework; Priorities for Budget 2006 a ... ; Advocacy; Early Learning and Child Care; Anti-Poverty Strategy; Affordable Housing Stock; Enhancing BC's Education System; Health Care; Women's Support Services; Responding to the Pine Beetl ... ; Solutions Budget Three-year Pla

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