January 27, 2009
It is a day of reckoning for the Canadian Government.
A couple months ago, the minority government was on the verge of collapse in its first week of sitting. A creative constitutional manoeuvre was used to prorogue parliament, buying time until yesterday’s throne speech and today’s budget.
For the past month or so, companies, unions, provinces, municipalities and other interest groups have been appearing at town hall meetings and writing letters, asking for consideration for the budget to provide funding for their economic stimulus projects.
What makes for an effective fiscal stimulus plan? The government’s website defines a good project as:
It should boost the economy when needed, not when it has already recovered.
Each dollar of stimulus should deliver the maximum impact here in Canada.
If the recession is longer or deeper than anticipated, the stimulus will need to be larger and longer in duration.
An effective stimulus should also balance our short term needs with our long term economic plan for prosperity.
I have been calling for investment in a national broadband strategy since our opening remarks at at The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit.
Since then, we have seen a number of people join the call to raise Canada’s DQ – our digital quotient.
How will the government respond? Watch the coverage of today’s budget for stimulus of information infrastructure.