Image courtesy of cbc.ca – Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
Our government’s 433-page fiscal budget was delivered today, focusing on skills training, infrastructure and closer to home, helping Ontario’s manufacturing sector. Without getting into a major debate on this subject, overall, it’s probably where our money should be spent.
Our latest budget is definitely not the austerity plans we’ve read about from other parts of the world but our new fiscal plan does show some fiscal restraint. I suspect in the years to come, fiscal restraint is going to become business as usual whether we’re talking about the public or private sector – it will no longer be a cliché. That is only fitting because every organization has finite resources available to them, so those resources must be used wisely.
On the top of my mind, the organization I work for will be undergoing some major restructuring in the coming weeks and months and my understanding is, those details will start trickling out next week. It makes me nervous. I’m not sure what this news will bring for my role in the organization but I can only keep my head down, do the work I’ve been asked to do with the highest level of quality and efficiency, take on more when I can and hopefully things will work out. If not, I’m sure I’llblog about it at some point.
Have you ever dealt with major restructuring in your organization before? If so, what was the outcome?
On a more positive note, many personal finance articles and blogs kept me inspired this week. I encourage you to check them out when you have time.
Before I leave you, don’t forget to enter my draws folks, I’m helping giveaway a $1,000 digital camera, a free point of purchase code to help you with your taxes (up to a $30 value) and a great new book by some fellow bloggers to help Canadian students and parents of students.
Enjoy your weekend and chat more next week.
Retire Happy said don’t buy Deferred Sales Charge (DSC) mutual funds.
Millionaire Teacher Andrew Hallam recently bought $50,000 worth of the Canadian bond index.
Boomer wrote about how her retirement plans got derailed.
The Financial Blogger wrote about when to incorporate.
Steadyhand said there is a strong consensus on where interest rates are headed in the short-term: nowhere.
Mr. CBB had a post about life and credit and how terrible life can get with credit.
Canadian Personal Finance shared 5 signs that you need a new gig.
It’s probably not a really fun time to be the finance minister in the face of a weak economy and a global economic downturn. In my organization, companies have been sitting on the fence, not really investing and making moves and not really stopping either. I think they are just taking the way and see approach. -Pat.
I hear you about being nervous with the restructuring going on at work. Our University has two months to come up with a $12M budget shortfall (Thanks, Premier Redford).
Thanks for the mention!
No sweat Echo. Stressful times for sure.
A lot of companies seem to be undergoing restructuring these days. A couple of years ago the company that I worked for underwent restructuring in a major way – the good news was that everyone got to keep their jobs, they just ended up with different job descriptions.
Mark, thx for the link and the inspiration to expand the stress test. I guess you can write a new T1135 post next year after the budget 🙂
Glad to help 🙂 Yes, looks like I have some new blog content with the T1135 changes.
Keeping your head down and working sounds like a good idea when the axe is swinging. Thanks for the mention.
Thanks for including me this week. I await the Budget Omnibus bill to see EXACTLY how the government will recover many by “streamlining government”.
We’re undergoing some slow restructuring at the moment. A few people got laid off. A few people are getting moved around. And we’re trying to tighten up our product pipeline. I suspect that if the next couple years don’t go well, we may face larger changes.
Thanks for sharing a CBB post Mark. Have a great weekend! Mr.CBB