CANADIAN POLITICS:

CANADA: WAR SPENDING BEATS THE ENVIRONMENT:

There is a persist myth about Canada as "the peaceable kingdom", a myth hardly born out by the facts, especially as successive Liberal and Conservative governments have done their best to be good mercenaries in the American war in Afghanistan. Just how far off this myth is from reality is shown by the following from the Canadian anti-militarist group Cease Fire.

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Environment Spending Dwarfed by Rising Defence Budget:

Read the media coverage of the new report that appears in more than 30 newspapers across Canada:Ottawa Citizen Canwest News Sun Media

I want to let you know about a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives by Rideau Institute senior adviser Bill Robinson.

The report shows that Canada’s rising National Defence spending is $21.185 billion in 2009-2010, making Canada’s rank 13th highest in the world, and 6th highest among NATO’s 28 members, dollar for dollar.

Bill Robinson says the rise in defence spending is an indication of the government’s priorities. “Government spending on National Defence is twenty times that of federal Environment Department spending,” said Robinson. By comparison, the Department of the Environment was allocated only $1.064 billion.

The report, “Canadian Military Spending 2009,” notes that Department of National Defence spending has increased by 9.6% over last year, or $1.8 billion. ”The government could have doubled its planned multi-departmental spending on climate change initiatives this year had it not increased military spending by that amount,” added Robinson.

Canada has spent $23.1 billion in successive increases to National Defence spending since the outset of the Global War on Terror in 2001 (calculated by comparing spending to date above the 2000-01 budget). Roughly half of that amount has been spent on the Afghanistan war.

In historical terms, military spending today has surpassed Cold War spending in 1989 by 22%, and Canada is committed to increased spending under the Conservative government’s Canada First Defence Strategy.

“If the extra $130 billion to $155 billion that Canada will spend over the next 18 years as a result of its post–Cold War military budget buildup were spent instead on aid, it would be enough to nearly triple Canadian development assistance over that period, enabling us to meet and even exceed the 0.7% target and to provide additional resources for climate change aid,” said Robinson.

“Canadian Military Spending 2009” is published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Bill Robinson is a defence analyst and senior adviser of the Rideau Institute.

In peace,

Steven Staples,

Ceasefire.ca

CANADIAN POLITICS:

HARPER BUDGET INADEQUATE:

With admirable low cunning the federal Conservative government has been leaking its budget plans in drubs and drabs, hoping to take the wind out of the opposition's sails. What has been released is seen as inadequate for the present situation by many economists. Another proposed budget has been released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Here are the highlights, courtesy of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

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Alternative Federal Budget released:
Will the feds go far enough? Economist Marc Lee, hopes so but fears not. Speaking on behalf of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Lee said the federal government's stimulus package - leaked yesterday - is only half as big as the IMF, OECD and others are recommending.

Worse still, it includes tax cuts which are used mainly to pay down household debt or are put into savings. Says Lee: "We will get better bang for the buck if we deliver money into the hands of those who will spend it right away, particularly those with lower incomes."

The CCPA's Alternative Federal Budget, released this week, details a stimulus package that would create jobs, invest in strategic long-term initiatives and help those who need it most.

The AFB also lists five things the actual federal budget should do:

***increase EI benefits from 55 per cent to 60 per cent of insured earnings and
extending the period for receiving those benefits to 50 weeks
***make a commitment to reduce poverty in Canada by 25 per cent in the next five years
***implement an ambitious social, physical and green public infrastructure
program to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs
***provides supports to corporations that keep the lights on in the short term but require them to become green and sustainable in the long term.
***emphasize spending over tax cuts.

The Alternative Federal Budget is coordinated by the CCPA and is the result of collaborative deliberations by representatives of a wide spectrum of civil society organizations.

CUPE is a member of the CCPA and actively participates in formulating the AFB.
Download the 2009 Alternative Federal Budget