Re: the still-murky https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🇨🇦" title="Flagge von Kanada" aria-label="Emoji: Flagge von Kanada">-provincial $ deal to help municipalities announced yesterday. I& #39;ll hold off on detailed comments until there are actual details to comment on. But for now, I& #39;ll note a few things at a higher level... 1/7 https://twitter.com/CraigScottNL/status/1284093434245062656">https://twitter.com/CraigScot...

/2 Some of the best political advice I ever got was "get to the endgame." By doing this in the most complex and half-hearted way possible, Ottawa has guaranteed months of bumps, ??s & issues like Mayor Scott& #39;s as the $ filters its way down through a broken fiscal federation.

/3 Remember, again, this is a squabble over printed QE money. Whether Ottawa eventually rolls BoC debts over indefinitely or just writes them off per Friedman& #39;s & #39;helicopter drop,& #39; every fed C$ added (or not!) costs very little relative to a $ of cost elsewhere in the federation.

/4 I get to say I told you so, so I& #39;m gonna say it. Ottawa had the authority & the opportunity to have moved this $ directly to cities. It voluntarily chose to forgo that authority. Some of us warned this would mean months of negotiation and complexity, w/ no practical benefit.

/5 As the months elapsed, local reserves were burnt too early in a recession, capital projects cancelled, 000s of local workers laid off w/ no CERB to turn to while Ottawa& #39;s civil service remains cheerfully intact. Many layoffs are likely now permanent based on yesterday& #39;s math.

/6 And to those syaing "but there& #39;s waste in local govt!" - I& #39;m speaking as a guy who& #39;s helped deliver real savings & tax cuts to a city budget before. City cuts in 2020 were driven by cash flow desperation, not savings potential - so, *by necessity* the dumbest cuts possible.

/7 So in short, while I& #39;m very happy this offers real support for real people and real priorities, and I& #39;m happy the provs & feds agreed to act, I& #39;m not sure why we had to do this the hard way, especially since it may mean having to do it all over again in six months& #39; time.