President Obama has frequently cited the seemingly intractable debate about the size of government currently consuming the political class as his primary obstacle to getting major reforms through a divided Congress.
For example, in his State of the Union address he said:
It has been more than two years since an independent commission submitted its report to the Ontario government on the provinces poor public finances and high government debt.
Albertas provincial government has provided plenty of political theatre as of late, with, as I write, three resignations from the government, including that of Alison Redford as premier. However, the Redford resignation may not be the end of her influence on Albertas future, and in particular, upon the Alberta Heritage Savings and Trust Fund.
The CRTCs recent reprimand of three Toronto-based X-rated channels for failing to meet the required 35 per cent threshold for Canadian content became fodder for Internet humor; however, Canadian content regulations are no laughing matter for cultural nationalists. Indeed, one of the oldest shibboleths of Canadian public policy is that domestic cultural industries need regulatory protections and taxpayer financial support to promote and sustain the Canadian identity.
If you listen to Alberta Finance Minister Doug Horner, the province's public finances are under control. The government's budget imposes no new taxes, spending growth has been moderated, and Alberta is running an operational budget surplus after successive years of budgetary deficits.
When apologists for the provincial government's new borrowing binge defend it on the grounds that private sector companies borrow money for capital expenses so why not have the Alberta government do the same? their defence invariably contains a significant and faulty assumption: that political behaviour is the same as that of private companies.
