To the Editor,
Re: MP lauds transition budget, Feb. 13.
Why do we not simplify the budgeting system? Every year all levels of government and businesses spend millions of dollars budgeting for the coming year. Why do we not just do one and use that as guide for the rest? The federal government, prime minister and minister of finance say they enlist the finest financial minds in planning the budget. We should look at the raises the government and their group of finest financial minds feel is fair for the average hard-working Canadian. We should then base all budget increases in this amount that all these fine minds feel is enough to maintain their excellent standard of living.
Terry WagstaffNanaimo
To the Editor,
Finance Minister Flaherty says his budget will “support Canadian families.”
In January 2013, the International Monetary Fund reported that Canada’s implicit subsidies to oil, gas and coal companies amount to 1.52 per cent of gross domestic product, or about $787 per Canadian. That’s over $3,000 a year for a Canadian family of four.
Remarkably, despite cutting spending elsewhere, this budget did nothing to reduce these unnecessary subsidies for one of the world’s most profitable industries. Perhaps Mr. Flaherty considers the fossil fuel sector to be “family?”
Blaise SalmonVictoria