WATCH ABOVE: Finance Minister Joe Oliver outlines the details for proposed balanced budget legislation including running acceptable deficits under “extraordinary circumstances.”
TORONTO – Finance Minister Joe Oliver says the Conservative government will introduce balanced budget legislation.
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The legislation was promised in the October 2013 throne speech and mandates “concrete actions” in the event of a deficit. Critics have argued it’s largely symbolic.
Oliver is telling a business audience in Toronto that ministers and deputy ministers would have their pay cut by five per cent during a deficit situation.
There would also be an “automatic freeze” on operating spending.
However, the bill would allow for numerous exceptions during times of “extraordinary circumstances,” Oliver says.
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