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-- A 2.3 Billion dollar boondoggle in the making --- energy relief for canadians
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I am all in favour of repaying the national debt, but I don't think it should be done in the context of "we'll toss in whatever we can, when we can" - both the province of Ontario and Canada at large really need a structured debt repayment plan and more balanced budget laws.

Back in the old days when we had a Conservative government, they actually implemented a balanced budget law, but that was very quickly repealed by the tax-borrow-and-spend Liberals.

Speaking of more 'rebates'...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...Story/National/

quote:

Ottawa's Surplus cash headed your way By ALEXANDER PANETTA Wednesday, October 5, 2005 Posted at 5:57 PM EDT Canadian Press Ottawa � Every taxpayer in the country will get a cheque from the federal government each year that it posts a larger-than-expected surplus, sources say. The Liberals' Surplus Allocation Act will promise taxpayers a slice of the surplus along with their income-tax return, federal officials told The Canadian Press. "Canadians would be getting a dividend on the performance of the economy," said one official. The legislation, to be tabled Friday, sets out a broader spending plan for the unplanned surpluses that Ottawa frequently racks up. Advertisements click here click here click here One-third of all unexpected surpluses will go to debt relief, one-third to program spending and one-third to taxpayers. The government has drastically underestimated its surpluses since balancing the budget in 1997-98. In one of the most dramatic examples � 2002-03 � Ottawa estimated a $3-billion surplus that ended up at $9.1-billion. Under the proposed formula, the extra $6.1-billion would have been divided three ways, with $2-billion going to taxpayers. That would have provided cheques averaging $133 each for Canada's 15 million taxpayers, depending on their tax brackets. The plan proposes that for those who owe the government money at year's end the surplus bonus will be deducted from what they owe. The bonus money would be added to the cheques of those slated to get money back. It is unclear whether the legislation will get through Parliament before an election, expected within several months. Opposition parties have been demanding for years that the government find a more democratic way to allocate surpluses. They have accused the Liberals of short-circuiting democratic debate by racking up giant surpluses and then allocating all the extra money to debt relief at year's end. One high-ranking government source said the Liberals will continue paying down the debt � which stands at almost $500-billion. He said the current debt-to-GDP ratio of 38.7 per cent will continue falling and will meet the 25 per cent target by 2015. "We are in no way detracting from our commitment to debt relief," he said. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation was unimpressed with the plan, calling it a gimmick leading up to the next election. "Smells fishy to me � smells like election herring," said John Williamson, head of the federation. "I think Canadian taxpayers would welcome any kind of rebate cheque from the federal government. But ... it's not a real tax cut." He said the more transparent way to proceed would be guaranteeing tax cuts that Canadians could count on every year. Williamson cited an example from 2004-05, where private-sector forecasters predicted a $7-billion surplus as late as this summer. But the government went on an end-of-year spending spree and wound up with a rare smaller-than-expected surplus of $1.6-billion. That means taxpayers would have received nothing this year � and would get nothing whenever the government chose to go on a late-year spending spree, Williamson said. But a federal official defended the so-called formula of thirds. "That equal distribution between debt relief, tax relief and program spending just strikes Canadians as a reasonable thing to do," he said. "This legislation reflects the wishes of Canadians."

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