As goes Ottawa, so goes Victoria, hm?

There’s a front page article in today’s Globe & Mail, The price of Ottawa’s stimulus: Here come the cuts, by Bill Curry.

It features a photograph of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who, suitably stern-faced, gestures with his left hand – perhaps the hand that taketh, when giving comes to an end?

What Minister Flaherty is telling his listeners is essentially this:

Folks, when all is said and done, the money all comes from one pot. And folks, the pot is empty – we spent it all on our fabulous stimulus funding, and now comes reality. To whit, we’re going to cut all sorts of other funding. Buh-bye for now!

The article’s headline sums it up exactly, while Curry’s lede describes what’s coming:

“Federal programs, public-service budgets and non-profit grants face cutbacks in plan to phase out stimulus and tackle deficit” (see Curry’s article for more)

In other words, the amount of money available is finite, and to make up for the fantastic expenditures of stimulus funding, everything else is going to get cut.

Isn’t it ironic, to say the least, that in Victoria we have a municipal government (elected on the platform of solving social problems) which applied for the Federal stimulus program that’s now causing cutbacks to social programs? Curry notes that the government promises not to raise taxes (my, but that sounds so familiar!), so instead, “Staffing budgets for public servants will be tightened and grant money for non-profits nationwide is expected to become scarce. (…) Mr. Flaherty is also counting on economic activity and easing demand for federal social programs to trim the multibillion-dollar annual deficits.” (source)

Now, it’s true that the City of Victoria didn’t get any of the stimulus funding, the expenditure of which is now causing Minister Flaherty to call for canceling social programs. But as the Federal tale makes clear, money is money and comes from the same source: you and me.

In the City of Victoria case, Federal Transportation Minister John Baird swooped into the city to execute an as-yet unexplained “rescue” of Mayor Fortin’s bridge replacement project by pledging $21million from the Building Canada Major fund.

But for anyone who’d argue that it’s a different pot of money than the stimulus fund, keep in mind there is just one pot. The only good thing about what Minister Baird doled out to Victoria is that Building Canada doesn’t have what Curry refers to as the “’use it or lose it’ deadline of Jan. 29, 2010, to make spending commitments.” (source)

We have the luxury of time – which means we can rethink this whole project.

Now that we have it from the horse’s mouth (Minister Flaherty’s) that social programs are going to be cut because spending related to infrastructure stimulus has emptied the pot, perhaps the City of Victoria should re-examine its “social conscience” …lest this council’s legacy becomes one of social program cuts, vs. social program solutions.

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