Harper Government Austerity Plan: Economists Cast Wary Eye On Promise Of Budget Cuts

Despite renewed global economic unrest, Prime Minister Stephen Harper took a break from his trade mission to Latin America to affirm Ottawa’s promise to go ahead with $4 billion in annual spending cuts in a bid to eliminate the budget deficit by 2015. But the promise is meeting mixed reaction from economists, some of whom warn that cleaning up Canada’s balance sheet now is a risky play.

In an apparent bid to quell any doubts about whether Ottawa would re-think its deficit-slashing timeline, Harper told reporters Thursday that stimulus is not currently on the table.

“It continues to be our view that the Canadian economy will grow; it will grow gradually and slowly, along with the world recovery,” he said. “As long as those remain the circumstances, the policy mix of the government of Canada is the appropriate one.”