This article originally appeared in the Financial Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Jack Mintz, April 17, 2024
David Dodge, former deputy finance minister and governor of the Bank of Canada, said before the 2024 federal budget was presented that it would “likely be one of the worst in decades.” He wasn’t wrong. The budget Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivered Tuesday fails to address the biggest problem currently facing Canada — our declining standard of living.
It is very irritating to hear the Trudeau government congratulate itself for Canada’s economic growth over the past few years without pointing out that all of it has come from immigration. Factor out population growth and Canada’s real GDP “growth” per capita has been negative 2.5 per cent — a number mentioned nowhere in the budget. Even Carolyn Rogers, deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, recently called our weak economic performance an economic emergency — and bank officials are always extremely careful about their choice of words.
Stumbling in her new shoes, Minister Freeland has taken three steps backward in this budget. She is running up federal spending by 10 per cent over the next two years. From fiscal years 2022-23 through 2025-26, the government’s financing requirements will have grown by 61 per cent while the interest it is paying on its debt will be up 57 per cent. She is also taking the wrong path by raising taxes on the private sector rather than cutting federal spending.
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