Latest news with #WilliamRobson
Gulf Insider
08-07-2025
- Business
- Gulf Insider
"Runaway Spending": Canada On Track For $92 Billion Deficit, Think Tank Projects
The federal government is on pace to post a $92-billion deficit this fiscal year — nearly double what was projected just four months ago , according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. If accurate, it would mark the second-largest deficit in Canadian history, trailing only the $327.7-billion shortfall of 2020-21 during the pandemic, according to National Post. 'The picture is definitely not pretty,' said Alexandre Laurin, C.D. Howe's vice-president, who co-authored the report with William Robson and Don Drummond. The think tank now forecasts annual deficits of over $77 billion for the next four years, far higher than the government's projections in its most recent budget — which is now more than a year old. The report criticizes the government's delay in tabling a new budget, saying, 'Delaying a budget until the fiscal year is more than half over is never good, but Canada's current high-spending trajectory makes this delay especially bad.' National Post writes C.D. Howe attributes the worsening outlook to rising defence spending, Trump-era tariffs, tax cuts, and the scrapped digital services tax. It also questions whether promised revenue boosts from fines, penalties, and savings will materialize. The report notes Ottawa is making major fiscal commitments without disclosing key figures, including the expected tax intake, spending levels, and future interest payments. 'Ottawa is making costly commitments… without showing key numbers to the public,' it warns. 'It is widely accepted that Canada's economy is at a critical crossroads,' the authors write. 'So are Canada's finances – beyond the economic drag of high deficits and rising debt, it is unfair to pass these burdens on to the current young and future generations.' In contrast, the Parliamentary Budget Officer had projected in March that the federal deficit would shrink to $50.1 billion this year, with continued improvements in future years — assuming no major new spending or tax cuts. C.D. Howe recommends the government cut operating costs, abandon some costly platform promises, consider increasing less harmful taxes like the GST, and reduce federal transfers. It also rejects Ottawa's plan to separate operating and capital budgets: 'The large deficits projected in this update cannot be downplayed or disguised by dividing the budget into two new categories.' The report concludes that greater transparency is essential: 'The government must improve its accountability by sharing its revenue and spending figures with taxpayers.'
BBC News
19-03-2025
- BBC News
Lincolnshire Police tackle Boston motoring anti-social behaviour
Three vehicles have been seized by police in a crack down on modified cars and antisocial behaviour in Police said its Operation Exhaust was prompted by "numerous complaints" over noisy exhausts and other driving incidents involving "boy racers" in the car was caught with an exhaust so loud it was the equivalent of being at a rock concert, the force said, which has issued 24 tickets for traffic and vehicle William Robson, who is based in Boston, said: "People feel intimidated by this behaviour. It's an aggressive act and, ultimately, we want it to stop." The force said its operation on Friday had seen drivers caught for a number of offences including defective tyres, illegal window tints, not wearing seatbelts, modified registration plates and not being in proper control of a vehicles were seized for document offences, it Robson said: "We will tackle antisocial behaviour in all forms whether that's vehicles, people causing problems in parks or littering. This action was part of that and was very successful."We try and engage with offenders but this was about upping the enforcement and drawing a line under it. We've had too many complaints to ignore it." Police said the legal limit for a vehicle's exhaust was 72 decibels for cars produced since 2016. However, one car was caught with an exhaust recording 114.5 decibels, the equivalent to a rock Phil McAllister, from the roads policing unit, said: "This wasn't just about noise, it was about a range of offences which cause distress to the public on a daily basis."We saw people wheel spinning and doing doughnuts. That is unacceptable and can put people lives in danger."The operation was criticised by some members of the public on social media who claimed the force should be tacking "more important" issues and user described it as a "waste of taxpayer money" and said Lincolnshire Police should "do real police work".Sgt Robson defended the operation and told the BBC he found the negative comments "disappointing".He said: "While we had this operation going on we had many more officers out working on other crimes people are worried about."This was about specialist officers targeting a specific issue." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
