INDEPTH: BUDGET 2004
Issues: Economy
CBC News Online | March 23, 2004
Finance Minister Ralph Goodale wants to put Canada on a path so it can adjust to an aging population that will put more demands on social programs while paying less into them.
To that end, Goodale has set a goal of cutting the federal debt-to-GDP [gross domestic product] level to 25 per cent from the current 42 per cent within 10 years.
Goodale wants to take the country's debt-to-GDP ratio back down to levels not seen since the mid-1970s.
"On the matter of debt, Canadians instinctively know that paying it down is the right thing to do – for themselves and their government," Goodale said in his budget address.
"We have stopped pushing our current financial burdens onto future generations," he said, adding that the country will post its seventh straight surplus – something not seen since Confederation.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says Canada is expected to have the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio among G-7 countries in 2004.
Ottawa said the economy is expected to grow by 2.7 per cent this year and 3.3 per cent in 2005, according to the average of private sector forecasts. That follows weak growth of 1.7 per cent last year, when the economy was hit by the effects of SARS and BSE.
Last November, the federal government's fiscal update growth for 2004 was pegged at 3 per cent, with 2005 expected to see economic expansion of 3.4 per cent.
^TOP
|
|
 |
 MENU |
|
|
| VIEWPOINT: |
|
|
| RELATED: |
|
|
| MORE: |
|
|
|
