Stockwell Day
President of Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Balancing the budget after a big post-recession deficit will be the predominant task of government for years to come, and B.C.’s top man in cabinet has a new job that puts him right in the thick of it. Early this year, 59-year-old Stockwell Day – former Alberta finance minister, once leader of the Canadian Alliance and now MP for Okanagan-Coquihalla – was switched from minister of international trade to president of the Treasury Board. This department holds the federal purse strings, making Day responsible for the spending cuts needed to balance the books. He’s off to a quick start: just days after the March 4 budget, Day announced the elimination of 245 positions from government boards and agencies.
What are the challenges of switching ministries? Do you get some time to study up?
Any time you change portfolio, it’s a monumental shifting of gears. You brace yourself for the inevitable string of briefings from your officials. You need those, but the other important part is what is happening in the world outside of Ottawa; you have to make sure you’re also talking to tax-paying citizens.
Are you enjoying a break in your travel schedule after International Trade?
Yeah, the global travel comes screeching to a stop. It seems strange. Before, almost every time you’re not in parliamentary session, you have to be planning a business trip somewhere. Now the only time zones I have to cross are the ones between B.C. and Ottawa. It’s the one time I envy Ottawa MPs: they get to go home for dinner every night.
Looking back at your time as trade minister, what major shifts are happening in how B.C. trades with the rest of the world?
I’m very upbeat for short- and long-term opportunities for B.C. trade, especially in the Asia-Pacific territories. There are so many parts of Asia that are coming alive in growth. In China there are over a billion people and only one per cent of them own cars. The growth potential in that one field alone is staggering. And B.C.’s wood products are in demand. I got to see the ribbon cutting in the earthquake-devastated region in China for earthquake-proof seniors homes using B.C. wood.
What’s the best part of moving to the Treasury Board?
The opportunity to work with all my colleagues as far as an eye to their spending. The president of the Treasury Board is automatically a member ex officio of any cabinet committee. So I get an opportunity to drill down into the various departments and share the whole spending picture with my colleagues.
What’s your role in fulfilling the government’s promise to balance the budget in less than 10 years without raising taxes or cutting transfers to provinces and individuals?
The Treasury Board manages the spending of hard-earned taxpayers’ dollars, the workings of the public service and our regulatory regime. So our goal, in broad-brush terms, is to make sure we have a very competitive tax regime, and we are going to be very vigorous in making sure our regulatory regime is as common sense and as straightforward as can be.
Canada’s debt isn’t as bad as that of many nations. What’s the hurry in eliminating the deficit?
The very fact we’re doing well is going to create pressure from those of a different economic view who say, “Hey, we’ve got room, let’s fill in the ditch.” And we’re saying that type of thinking is exactly what winds up getting you in trouble. We are ahead of most other countries in terms of our ratio of debt to GDP; we want it to stay that way. You don’t have to tilt the teeter-totter too much to have everything sliding off the other end. If you want to have a productive, strong economy, people have to have a sense of confidence that the government has its act together and is not going to have to resort to oppressive taxes to pay its way.
There are many who question the feasibility of this ambitious debt-reduction plan. Is this a challenge to the government’s credibility?
Not so much to our credibility, but we will be under pressure from those of a different economic view. There are those who actually believe that deficits are not a problem and you can keep running them up, and we don’t believe that.
But the question was about the realism of the plan. How do you respond to that?
The pressure to raise taxes is from those who want instant satisfaction from the rush you get from increased revenue pouring into government from people’s hard work. But if you keep taxes low, you actually increase the incentive for people to work hard and invest more, and in the longer run you actually wind up bringing in more revenues. And that’s one of the reasons we’re seeing jobs increases, because businesses are willing to reinvest again.
Now that deficit reduction has moved front and centre, do you feel that the decision to lower the GST was a wise one?
Yes. Other governments had promised to get rid of the GST, and people had the hope that they would be seeing their taxes go down. They didn’t see that, and that becomes discouraging. So it was a very necessary move to demonstrate that commitment.
Do you have any appetite for leadership of the Conservative Party in the future?
Happily been there, done that. I’m just happy to be one person on the prime minister’s team.
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