In the leadup to the budget, CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS business panel were asked for their counsel. They report less worry about the risks of deflation than six months ago.

On balance, panelists favour less government spending than they did two years ago. They are middling or ambivalent when asked a general question about prioritizing economic stimulation vs. controlling the debt. But when asked about a series of specific spending options, respondents are much less favourable to increased spending than they were two years ago, in February, 2008.

Panelists nonetheless do favour some increases. In their view, the top priorities for increased spending ought to be for infrastructure, health transfers, and transfer to the provinces for post-secondary education. Their top priority for cuts is the environment.

Panelists’ support for cuts to spending on the environment is a sea-change in attitudes. The decline in support for environmental spending may reflect reactions to several weeks of media reports on doctored data and misleading analyses supplied by supporters of the view that greenhouse gases are causing global climate changes.

These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.

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