Tea Party Canada? Updated Links

Canada seems poised to experience significant economic growth. The Conservative government of Stephen Harper has announced reforms to keep government spending down and entitlement spending under control. I would hope this is what a tea party government would look like in America. Part of their plan includes raising the retirement age will rise from 65 to 67 in 2023. The government also announced:

Under the plan, Canada will cut its deficit this year through "moderate" spending cuts, as the economy grows by 2.1 percent, Flaherty announced.

But much deeper cuts, including the laying off of 19,200 government staff, or 4.8 percent of the federal workforce, are planned for the coming years.

Canada's debt to GDP ratio, while good compared to other industrialized countries, at 84%, is too high for the comfort of the government. As a result they are focusing on not allowing the ratio to rise.

The deficit was projected in the budget to fall to Can$21.1 billion (US$21.1 billion) or 1.2 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, down from a revised Can$24.9 billion last fiscal year.

1.2% of GDP? We can only dream. Finally, I like what they are doing to grow the economy.

Looking to the longer term, the minister outlined immigration reforms to attract more foreigners with skills and money to "strengthen Canada's economy," and a streamlining of the review process for major resource projects.
. . .
Since 2006, Canada has signed nine free trade deals and is now negotiating pacts with the European Union and India, as well as trying to grow its trade ties with China.

Free trade and immigration of skilled foreigners, I like this plan. The article also mentions how the U.S. is losing out by cancelling the XL pipeline and how it has strained relations between the two countries.

H/T CDR Salamander.

UPDATE

Fellow SLOB, WC Varones has some more material supporting this tea party thesis, liberated from the comments.

From August 2010:

You know why Canada doesn't have Tea Party protests?

Because they already have type of sensible government policies that Tea Partiers are trying to implement here!

Relative to the U.S., Canada has lower taxes, lower debt per capita, lower debt to GDP, and a sound banking system:

From July 2011:

In today's WSJ, Fred Barnes writes that Canada had a debt crisis in 1993 very similar to our current situation. And Canada's Liberal prime minister saved his country by doing exactly the opposite of what Obama is doing now.