If I Was At Work Today ...

I was actually sitting down to write another post, but as I watched all the be-suited people going by outside, it occurred to me how I`d be spending my day if I didn`t have time off work.  Instead of lounging in a coffee shop for the afternoon as the rain pelts down outside, writing my little heart out, if I were at work today ....

... I'd be back in the throes of the RBP.  The last fall I spent WITHOUT having to work on this was in 2001.  Before I joined the government, that is.


If you're not a government finance geek, you will have no idea what this means, but trust me, it's a good thing not to be there, in a deficit year just before a provincial election.  It's the Ontario government`s annual planning process, ultimately leading to the Budget (yes, it is always capitalized) in the end of March.  I`d be going crazy with spreadsheets or meetings with politicans by now, probably, as we all tried to figure out how to do 17 million new things whilst saving, oh, a billion dollars or so, give or take a few zeroes.

It can be kind of fun, at least for someone who is as obsessive-compulsive about finance as I am (ask my sister about the amount of time I spend on my own personal budget, and then imagine how much more OCD I become when I`m getting paid to do budget things at work).   I like getting to see government decision-making from the inside, although if I told you some of the things that I`ve heard discussed, I`d have to kill you.  And if you knew how it all actually worked ... well, let`s just say you can be happier reading the Budget papers not knowing.


Okay, I`m going back to my original post now.  Stay tuned ... I think you`ll like it.