G20 leaders support Harper’s goal to slash deficits
Posted Jun 27, 2010 2:41 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont. – It’s a busy day at the G20 inside the Metro Convention Centre, Sunday, with deficit reduction a major theme of the summit.
A leaked draft of the final summit communique showed that advanced economies have committed to cut their deficits in half by 2013 and put their debt loads on a stable or downward path by 2016.
Japan reportedly received an exemption because of special circumstances.
The targets are a minimum, and the final document said countries should try to speed up their pace of deficit reduction if their economies can withstand it.
Several European Union nations are already on a path toward austerity because of serious debt problems.
The United States would qualify as well as it’s already on pace to cut its deficit in half to $500-billion by 2013.
The Canadian delegation is also expected to come away victorious on the issue of a bank tax, with a limited adoption of a tax on banks for countries that are actually interested in that plan.
Separately on the environment, Prime Minister Stephen Harper rejected calls to eliminate tax incentives for the oil patch.
The Prime Minister’s Office said it will stay the course on tax incentives for the energy sector.
