Roundup: A better than anticipated fiscal picture

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The Department of Finance’s fiscal monitor was released yesterday, showing that for the first quarter of the 2022-23 fiscal year, the government ran a $10.2 billion surplus, which is not a big surprise considering that the economy is overheated, and that’s generating a lot of revenues, particularly with high oil prices. Of course, this comes with the caveat that Q4 tends to book a lot of the expenses and liabilities that drag the figure down at the end of the fiscal year, but it’s a promising sign, and it’s certainly showing that all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the government’s spending and deficit has been largely for naught, and that maybe Chrystia Freeland is a better fiscal steward than they think she is.

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Ukraine Dispatch, Day 184:

As overnight shelling continued near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, people in the vicinity have been issued iodine tablets in the event that there is a catastrophic failure and containment is breached, releasing radiation. So that’s cheery.

Good reads:

  • NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg concluded his Canadian visit with the warning that Russia and China are ramping up their Arctic activities.
  • Justin Trudeau formally appointed Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin to the Supreme Court of Canada, and the Chief Justice sent his welcoming remarks.
  • The Royal Canadian Navy’s new Joint Supply Ships are being delayed by as long as two more years, and I have never been more surprised in my life.
  • A deputy RCMP commissioner basically admitted they are exploiting legislative gaps to use spyware in investigations, but insist they care about privacy. (Sure, Jan).
  • A poll conducted on behalf of CSE finds that only one in ten Canadians are worried about being the victim of a cyber-attack, and that’s pretty alarming complacency.
  • Moderna is suing Pfizer for use of one of its mRNA vaccine technologies.
  • In pledging his support for Danielle Smith, Alberta’s former justice minister Kacee Madu has broken Cabinet confidence and should resign on principle.
  • Justin Ling delves into the history of the “Fairness Doctrine” in the US, and why it’s not going to be the tool that helps us deal with disinformation in the current era.
  • Paul Wells previews the upcoming Quebec election and the opposition dynamics that are playing out therein.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: A better than anticipated fiscal picture”

  1. Erin O’Toole should drop quickly back into the oblivion that his masters sent him to and continue to prepare a place for the next CPC leader who will follow in a few short years.

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