An economic question for the canadians..

[sparks]

Not sure how many of you still look in ( welcome back sharky btw ), but I've got a question...

 

We all know (or should all do) that in the UK we are now in a very serious situation. Recently, there's been lots of talk about trying to emulate the 'canadian solution' to their debt crisis in the mid 90's.

 

Now it's easy to google figures/stats about the amount owed/cut, but what I'd like to know is what actual affect it had on day to day life....

 

What happened to health care/education/employment etc in the REAL WORLD?

 

When I visited a few years ago, on the surface it seemed that the country was doing ok...but of course I could never see what was really happening. Did the 'prosperity' come back as it was, and if it did was it built on the same dodgy ground as before?

 

I happen to think that we have a far greater problem in the UK right now (as opposed to canada in the '90's) , with a higher deficit and much greater underlying debt. Added to that, we have no resources.

 

Canada reduced spending by approx 20% to solve their problems, and whilst I reckon it would have to be nigh on 50% to have the same effect, I'm interested to hear any personal experiences of that period...

[sharky]

Thanks for the welcome Sparks...this place is so wonderful to drop into now and again and have some good debates! One person that could REALLY answer your question would be my son, 'Cujo'...I am embarrassed to admit that my knowledge of the Canadian debt issues and politics are limited...I know that our banks have very tight borrowing policies...which probably helped somewhat...and we are taxed quite a bit...we have a GST tax and a PST(provincial) tax and now a replaced combined provincial/Canadian HST tax...so we are taxed A LOT to cover the expenses of the Health Care coverage etc...but people with lesser incomes get a mini tax refund periodially to help them...

 

That is embarrassing to admit the best that I can answer your question...I am sure that other Canadians ...AlaricM for excample could answer this question better...or Spidey...