Canada News- Lawmakers Approve Budget, Stimulus Package


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Lots of fiscal adjustments being implemented all over the world will help stop the slide in world aggregate demand.

Look for more evidence emerging that things are going from down to sideways.

Except unemployment which both lags and will probably keep going up until positive gdp growth exceeds productivity gains.

Canadian Lawmakers Approve Flaherty’s Budget, Stimulus Package

by Alexandre Deslongchamps and Greg Quinn

Mar 4 (Bloomberg) — Canadian lower house lawmakers voted to approve Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget, which projects C$84.9 billion ($66.6 billion) in deficits over the next five years.

The plan passed by a vote of 204 to 78, after legislators from the Liberal Party, the biggest opposition bloc, supported it. The other opposition parties voted against the budget. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it will likely be approved as the unelected upper chamber rarely blocks legislation.

It was the third and final vote on the budget in the lower house. A defeat on a budget bill would trigger an election under the country’s parliamentary tradition.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives hold 143 of the legislature’s 308 seats and need opposition support to pass laws and stay in power. The Liberals haven’t tried to bring down the government, saying Canadians want legislators to deal with the economic crisis.

The budget projects a C$1.1 billion deficit for the current fiscal year. The deficit will widen to C$33.7 billion in fiscal 2009-10 and C$29.8 billion in 2010-11 as the government provides funding for infrastructure, low-income families and tax credits for home renovation.


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