WINNIPEG WEATHER

TOUGH CHANGES TO BALANCED-BUDGET BILL 21

 

 

Amendments will hit ministers wallets if  deficit doesn’t hit targets

 

 

 

 

 

Bill 21 has been amended at committee and the changes make it tougher on ministers if the government doesn’t reduce the deficit by at least $100 million each fiscal year.

“The amendments brought at committee reinforce this government’s commitment to leading by example and making the necessary progress on deficit elimination.  These amendments would ensure sufficient penalties if this government, or any future government, fails to meet targets for deficit reduction or maintaining balance” said Finance Minister Cameron Friesen. 

Under the new legislation ministers would have 20% of their salaries withheld  each year until improvement is shown. That amount would increase to 40% if the targets for deficit reduction are not met in two consecutive years.

Ministers will still have an opportunity to be paid the money that was withheld only if they are able to cut the deficit by $100 million or more. If they are able to reduce the deficit by less than $100 million then they would be paid out on a pro-rated basis.

In the original version of the bill ministers would have only had their pay reduced if they were unable to find any savings. Even a $1 reduction in the deficit would have allowed ministers to keep their cash.

The proposed legislation still has a number of things in it that have no teeth however.  For example the bill proposes that a non-binding referendum be held before the government can introduce any bill to increase tax rate under The Health and Post Secondary Education Tax Levy Act, The Income Tax Act or The Retail Sales Tax Act. 

Since the referendums are non-binding the government could ignore the results if it wanted to. There are no penalties associated with ignoring referendum results in the bill.

 

-News4 Staff-

 

 

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