Canada PoliticsTony Clement tells ‘Forbes’ magazine how Canada slashed spending
It seems that several right-leaning media outlets in the United States have developed 'Stephen Harper envy.'
Frank Miniter of Forbes magazine is the latest U.S. journo to write about Canada's economic prowess vis-à-vis the Harper government's policies. In his column, published Tuesday, Miniter even suggests Republicans use Canada as an example when campaigning this Fall.
"Canada is outperforming the U.S. on every economic front and they're doing it with policies Republicans say they'd like to implement," he wrote.
"Canada's unemployment rate is now 7.3 per cent, whereas the current U.S. unemployment rate is 8.2 per cent. Canada's combined federal and provincial debt to GDP ratio is 57.9 per cent, while Canada's federal debt to GDP ratio is 34 per cent. Meanwhile, the U.S. debt to GDP ratio reached 101.5 per cent in 2011."
[ Related: Report says Canadians richer than Americans ]
Miniter cites Canada's relatively tough banking regulations, our tax policy and our abundant natural resources as reasons for our success.
But he didn't stop there.
For the "inside scoop", Miniter sought out Treasury Board President Tony Clement, who he calls Canada's chief operating officer.
The resulting interview provided a candid and detailed look at the Harper government's budget slashing process.
Here are some snippets from the interview:
Clement on budget cuts:
"We cut 2 per cent from the overall budget, but we didn't touch health care and other entitlement spending, as we'd promised not to. Our overall budget is about $250 billion. We focused on the $80 billion that's outside of health care and other social programs. Of this portion our goal was to cut between 5 per cent and 10 per cent. We ended up cutting 6.9%."
Clement on bonuses for bureaucrats who implemented budget cuts:
"Forty percent of this at-risk pay for senior managers was based on how much they contributed to the target of least $4 billion a year in permanent savings. This is just part of how we're changing the attitude of government officials from spending enablers to cost containers."
Clement on dealing with the unions:
"We showed public unions the olive branch by asking them to suggest where we could cut waste, but they didn't come back with one suggestion. They only wanted the status quo. Families know that when money is tight cuts in the household budget must to be made. This is why a lot of Canadians understand why we're working to get expenditures under control in these challenging times. Nevertheless, public unions wouldn't agree to cut anything. The people of Canada gave us a mandate to get our finances in order, so we made the cuts without their help."
Miniter on Clement leading by example:
Canada annually bestows "Public Service Award of Excellence" on people in the public sector who've done praiseworthy things. Ministers have spoken in the past at these awards functions. Last June, however, Clement wasn't pleased with how much the gala was costing, so he asked them to trim costs in these times of need. When the departments wouldn't cut back, he declined to speak at the event and instead offered to personally call the recipients.
For those that were wondering, Miniter made no mention of Clement's $50 million Gazebo-gate controversy.
[ Related: Ethics watchdog clears but cautions Clement's appearance in video ]
