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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bald Eagle who wrote (511490)	12/17/2003 10:32:57 AM
From: JakeStraw	Respond to of 769670

BE, ALL the malcontent dimwits here love to jump to conclusions...

To: Bald Eagle who wrote (511490)	12/17/2003 10:32:59 AM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Canada sets an example of fiscal responsibility for the US. Feds freeze spending, hiring Martin says expenditures to undergo rigourous study Robert Fife CanWest News Service; With files from The StarPhoenix Wednesday, December 17, 2003 OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Paul Martin has imposed an immediate halt on billions of dollars of capital spending projects, frozen the size of the public service and promised detailed scrutiny of every expenditure over the next three months. Martin said the move to rein in federal spending was necessary to pay for $2 billion promised to the provinces for health care and to secure a $1-billion rainy day fund. He also announced a ban on reclassification of government workers to stop the practice of civil servants moving into higher pay scales without changing their jobs. "Our No. 1 priority is health care," Martin told reporters after a cabinet meeting Tuesday. "Given the fact that our margin of manoeuvre is so narrow, (we are) putting ourselves in a position to ensure . . . the transfer of that money for health care." Among the projects frozen are former prime minister Jean Chretien's legacy initiatives including $700 million for Via Rail, a new $275.8-million building on Parliament Hill and $90 million for a proposed political history museum. The $600-million purchase of eight-wheel Stryker vehicles and hundreds of millions of dollars for 741 G-Wagen jeeps for the Armed Forces has also been put on hold, as has $500 million of renovations to federal buildings across the country. The capital freeze will not apply to the long-awaited $3-billion purchase of new helicopters for the military, Martin said. "When you send your troops either into a theatre of war or when, in fact, you are doing rescue operations here in Canada or dealing with national crises here in Canada, what you want to make sure is that our military has the best equipment possible," he said. A federal official said the freeze on capital projects shouldn't affect any ongoing or proposed Saskatchewan projects -- including a proposal to use $15 million for a development on Block 146 in Saskatoon. Before the civic election, city hall and the federal government discussed a multi-faceted development to go on the block north of 19th Street between First and Second avenues. It would include a new library, a site for Persephone Theatre, residences and commercial space. Since the election that proposal has stalled, however, while the new council has turned its attention to the Gathercole site. But the federal freeze isn't meant to stop projects covered by the Canada strategic infrastructure fund, said John Embury, director of communications for Finance Minister Ralph Goodale. Saskatoon's city manager Phil Richards has already contacted Western Economic Diversification -- which had been working on the south downtown project -- to see what the status of the city's request would be, he said. He didn't expect official word to come through for at least a few days. The frozen capital projects will be scrutinized by the new cabinet's powerful expenditure review committee over the next three months. After April 1, the committee will subject all federal spending to a rigorous review and report to Martin in the autumn for implementation in the 2005 budget. "There is a new normal around here and the new normal is we don't spend what we don't need to and we don't spend too much on priorities that are too insignificant," a senior federal official said. Canadian Alliance caucus leader Stephen Harper, who announced Tuesday he'll seek the leadership of the new Conservative Party, scoffed at Martin's capital spending freeze as a "flip flop." Martin is now trying to distance himself from spending proposed while he was finance minister in order to pay for programs on aboriginals, health care and the cities, Harper said. "He approved all the spending that he now claims he wants to freeze and he promised to do more," he said. "He is now on two tracks where he wants to spend money and now there is program review where he doesn't want to spend money." NDP Leader Jack Layton said there would be no need for the freeze if Martin would cancel $1.1 billion in corporate taxes Jan. 1 and if Ottawa had not paid $7 billion down on the national debt earlier this year. "There is, in fact, funds available if the government had the will to put a stop to the huge corporate give-away that is taking place just after Christmas," Layton said. "He wants to give it to his corporate buddies and now he is trying to cry poor with a great fanfare and flourish that there is a freeze on absolutely everything." The government normally has a yearly $3-billion contingency fund that is used to pay down the $508-billion national debt and another $1-billion "prudency" fund for special emergencies. Finance Minister Ralph Goodale said Chretien left the Martin government with only a $2.3-billion surplus, but that amounts to a "razor-thin" $300 million once the $2 billion is transferred to the provinces for health care before the fiscal year ending March 31. Cabinet had no option but to freeze capital projects and comb through the books for savings to assure there is enough money to deal with any crisis that may arise and avoid a deficit, he said. "The reserve that we have at the moment is razor thin," Goodale said. "We will need a very tight hand on the finances of the government for the balance of this current year." Next fiscal year, the government will once again build up a $3-billion contingency fund to pay down the debt and maintain a $1-billion prudency fund. © Copyright 2003 The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon