Latest news with #government
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Matthew Lau: There is no shortage of federal activities to cut
Canada's Liberal government says it wants to get spending under control, an unnamed previous government having let it get badly out of control. The finance minister has instructed his cabinet colleagues to review spending and find billions of dollars in savings. This is a welcome sign. But it needs to be taken in context. Prime Minister Mark Carney's most recent fiscal document was his campaign platform, which included more than $30 billion in annual 'new investments' on top of the fiscal plan he inherited from that previous government. Some of this was for a modest income tax cut and cancelling the planned capital gains tax hike, but most was for new spending. So something like $20 billion in annual spending must be removed from Carney's most recent fiscal projection just to get the federal government back to Justin Trudeau's spending plan, which was already a model of fiscal irresponsibility. As if things weren't bad enough, Carney's higher spending path was before his recent promises of big new defence spending. The C.D. Howe Institute estimates that, all told, the federal deficit may hit $92 billion this fiscal year, more than double the government's projection back in March. And Carney's often-used slogan of 'Spend Less, Invest More' suggests any 'savings' from a spending review may not actually translate into taxpayer relief. The government may simply spend the money on something else and call it an 'investment.' Finally, while reviewing spending, the government said it does not intend to touch its national child care and dental care programs, both boondoggles in terms of cost and quality of service. In sum, the Carney government does not seem at all serious about finding real efficiencies and savings. Which is a pity. There are many opportunities to save billions of dollars outside child care and dental care. Begin with the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food. The 2025-26 estimates, which tell us the department was created in 1868 'because of the importance of agriculture to the economic, social and cultural development of Canada,' put its cost at $3.9 billion this fiscal year. But agriculture's being important to Canada's economic development, which it certainly was and is, does not require it to be centrally planned by a government agency. In fact, something being important is a good argument against centrally planning it. To save $3.9 billion annually, take the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food budget down to $0. Separately, the Canadian Grain Commission and Canadian Dairy Commission would be good for another $33 million in annual savings. Scrap them, too. The Department of Industry, another large federal agency whose main purpose is unnecessary economic intervention, should also be eliminated (at a savings of $8.6 billion). Add to this the federal government's corporate welfare — or, as the government calls them, economic development — agencies. There are multiple regional agencies for: Atlantic Canada ($362 million), the North ($78 million), the Prairies ($279 million), Quebec ($331 million), Northern Ontario ($72 million), Southern Ontario ($268 million) and British Columbia ($140 million). Canada's taxpayers and economy would be better off without them. Axe these, too. According to the estimates, the Department of Finance will pay $3.5 billion to the Canada Infrastructure Bank this year, a crown corporation in the news recently for financing ferry purchases from China. Its establishment in 2017 was a poor idea to begin with. Again, the appropriate amount for this is $0. Three more pieces of low-hanging fruit are VIA Rail ($1.9 billion including its subsidiary VIA HFR-VIA Inc., whose mandate is to develop and implement high-frequency rail), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ($1.4 billion) and Canada Post Corporation ($1.1 billion). Many other government departments and organizations should also be abolished, including: the Department for Women and Gender Equality ($407 million), the Canada Council for the Arts ($360 million), Telefilm Canada ($163 million), the Canadian Tourism Commission ($125 million), the Canadian Human Rights Commission ($39 million), the Canadian Commercial Corporation ($14 million), and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation ($12 million). Still other government departments should probably not be wholly scrapped but instead drastically pared back. In the past decade, Ottawa's spending on Indigenous peoples approximately tripled in nominal dollars to over $32 billion, though with little effect on Indigenous standards of living. Not having done much good, this spending could be cut back significantly. The Ministry of Environment need not be abolished entirely, but large chunks of its spending, such as contributions to the Low Carbon Economy Fund ($247 million) and grants and contributions for Canada's International Climate Finance Program ($37 million), should be eliminated. Matthew Lau: Here's a tip on tipping. You don't have to Matthew Lau: CBC's very balanced reporting of just one point of view Whether the federal government will finally get serious about spending and finances remains to be seen. But if it really wants to cut spending, there is no shortage of places to find savings. 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Asharq Al-Awsat
an hour ago
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Pakistan's Quiet Solar Rush Puts Pressure on National Grid
Pakistanis are increasingly ditching the national grid in favor of solar power, prompting a boom in rooftop panels and spooking a government weighed down by billions of dollars of power sector debt. The quiet energy revolution has spread from wealthy neighborhoods to middle- and lower-income households as customers look to escape soaring electricity bills and prolonged power cuts, said AFP. Down a cramped alley in Pakistan's megacity of Karachi, residents fighting the sweltering summer heat gather in Fareeda Saleem's modest home for something they never experienced before -- uninterrupted power. "Solar makes life easier, but it's a hard choice for people like us," she says of the installation cost. Saleem was cut from the grid last year for refusing to pay her bills in protest over enduring 18-hour power cuts. A widow and mother of two disabled children, she sold her jewelry -- a prized possession for women in Pakistan -- and borrowed money from relatives to buy two solar panels, a solar inverter and battery to store energy, for 180,000 rupees ($630). As temperatures pass 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), children duck under Saleem's door and gather around the breeze of her fan. Mounted on poles above homes, solar panels have become a common sight across the country of 240 million people, with the installation cost typically recovered within two to five years. Making up less than two percent of the energy mix in 2020, solar power reached 10.3 percent in 2024, according to the global energy think tank Ember. But in a remarkable acceleration, it more than doubled to 24 percent in the first five months of 2025, becoming the largest source of energy production for the first time. It has edged past gas, coal and nuclear electricity sources, as well as hydropower which has seen hundreds of millions of dollars of investment over the past decades. As a result, Pakistan has unexpectedly surged towards its target of renewable energy, making up 60 percent of its energy mix by 2030. Dave Jones, chief analyst at Ember, told AFP that Pakistan was "a leader in rooftop solar". 'The great Solar rush' Soaring fuel costs globally, coupled with demands from the International Monetary Fund to slash government subsidies, led successive administrations to repeatedly hike electricity costs. Prices have fluctuated since 2022 but peaked at a 155-percent increase and power bills sometimes outweigh the cost of rent. "The great solar rush is not the result of any government's policy push," Muhammad Basit Ghauri, an energy transition expert at Renewables First, told AFP. "Residents have taken the decision out of clear frustration over our classical power system, which is essentially based on a lot of inefficiencies." Pakistan sources most of its solar equipment from neighboring China, where prices have dropped sharply, largely driven by overproduction and tech advancements. But the fall in national grid consumers has crept up on an unprepared government burdened by $8 billion of power sector debt, analysts say. It is also tied into lengthy contracts with independent power producers, including some owned by China, for which it pays a fixed amount regardless of actual demand. A government report in March said the solar power increase has created a "disproportionate financial burden onto grid consumers, contributing to higher electricity tariffs and undermining the sustainability of the energy sector". Electricity sales dropped 2.8 percent year-on-year in June, marking a second consecutive year of decline. Last month, the government imposed a new 10-percent tax on all imported solar, while the energy ministry has proposed slashing the rate at which it buys excess solar energy from consumers. 'Disconnected from the public "The household solar boom was a response to a crisis, not the cause of it," said analyst Jones, warning of "substantial problems for the grid" including a surge during evenings when solar users who cannot store energy return to traditional power. The national grid is losing paying customers like businessman Arsalan Arif. A third of his income was spent on electricity bills at his Karachi home until he bought a 10-kilowatt solar panel for around 1.4 million rupees (around $4,900). "Before, I didn't follow a timetable. I was always disrupted by the power outages," he told AFP. Now he has "freedom and certainty" to continue his catering business. In the eastern city of Sialkot, safety wear manufacturer Hammad Noor switched to solar power in 2023, calling it his "best business decision", breaking even in 18 months and now saving 1 million rupees every month. The cost of converting Noor's second factory has now risen by nearly 1.5 million rupees under the new government tax. "The tax imposed is unfair and gives an advantage to big businesses over smaller ones," he said. "Policymakers seem completely disconnected from the public and business community."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal employees say many government agencies at a standstill thanks to DOGE cuts: ‘We are set up for failure'
Some government agencies have come to a complete standstill because of cuts instituted by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to federal employees. A dozen workers told Politico that Musk's budget slashing and spending freezes have hindered basic functions of government work. Scientists aren't able to publish their research and some Energy Department staffers can't access their laboratories, the staffers told the outlet. At the Federal Emergency Management Agency, disaster planning exercises are being cancelled, the anonymous sources said. Compounding the matter, recipients of Biden-era energy grants have been left in uncertainty as they wait for authorization to continue their work. One FEMA officer told the outlet: 'We are set up for failure.' The Interior Department and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are also being impacted by the disruption, said the workers. The Trump administration blamed the problems on 'several activist district court judges' who they claim have 'sought to seize control of the management of government agencies.' 'Delays and disruption caused by litigation are unfortunate, but they will not deter the president from delivering what the voters elected him to do — building a government that is leaner, more effective, and fully aligned with constitutional principles,' the White House told the outlet in a statement. The deferred resignation program, offered by DOGE shortly after Trump's inauguration, resulted in thousands of federal employees abandoning their posts. According to the outlet, about 1,300 employees at the EPA took the offer, while over 1,000 did so from NOAA, a staffing cut of roughly 10 percent. The Department of Energy also saw 3,500 people depart through the deferred resignation route. Meanwhile, about a quarter of the staff at the Interior Bureau of Reclamation has left the agency. At the Bureau of Land Management, about 1,000 people took the resignation offer or early retirement. These numbers are in addition to people who were laid off. One official at the EPA said scientific research has cratered due to the funding cuts. This includes work on air pollution studies that were taking place in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The majority of staff, the official added, are operating under a de facto spending freeze as workers need to request approval for expenses over $1. This has left scientists unable to submit their work to journals or conduct peer reviews through the EPA. Expenses for necessary items such as computer software to analyze data for scientific research have also not been approved. 'Without science, the agency can't function. And that's what we're seeing right now,' one source told Politico. Spokespeople for the agencies refuted the characterizations made by the employees. They did, however, state they've been imposing approval processes for expenses, claiming it would improve how taxpayer dollars are handled. The Independent has emailed the White House, the Energy Department and the EPA for comment.
Bloomberg
2 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Prabowo Confirms US to Impose 19% Tariff on Indonesian Goods
Indonesia's president confirmed he struck a tariff deal with the US after direct negotiations with President Donald Trump accelerated months of talks between officials of both countries. A 19% tariff will be placed on Indonesian exports to the US, President Prabowo Subianto said to reporters on Wednesday, the first confirmation from the country of the US president's announcement.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Beloved Indian snacks to soon carry health warnings
The Indian government is implementing health warnings for popular snacks like samosas and jalebis to be displayed as cautionary notices in public venues. These warnings are intended to make people aware of hidden oil, sugar and trans-fat content in food products, rather than being placed directly on the snack items themselves. The initiative stems from growing concerns over India 's escalating burden of lifestyle diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular conditions. Health experts largely support the move, drawing parallels between the health risks of sugar and trans fats and those of tobacco. However, the policy has drawn criticism from nutritionists and public figures who argue it unfairly targets traditional Indian foods while neglecting ultra-processed Western alternatives.
