Serge Dupont, Senior Advisor and Head of Public Policy at Bennett Jones, and Theo Argitis, senior vice president of policy at the Business Council of Canada (BCC) write about the need for fiscal guardrails in federal spending in an op-ed in The Globe and Mail. Serge and Theo's opinion piece flows out of an extensive consultation by the BCC on the future of the country's fiscal policy in anticipation of the upcoming federal budget, and initiative that they co-chaired.
When it comes to what fiscal guardrails should look like, Serge and Theo say their preference would be, "a dashboard framework that includes at least three components. One, a long-term sustainability anchor such as a declining gross-debt-to-GDP ratio. Two, an early-warning indicator such as interest-to-revenue or interest-to-GDP ratios. And critically, three, it should include operational rules such as a deficit reduction target or spending cap that are easily understood and put into practice by ministers and the public service."
Globe and Mail subscribers can read the full op-ed here.