This article originally appeared in the Financial Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Jack Mintz, February 21, 2025
“I don’t get it.” This phrase comes to mind as I listen to senior Liberal politicians proposing to reverse a decade’s worth of Justin Trudeau’s policies that they willingly pushed while in power. Now they’re signing on to new oil pipelines, internal trade reforms and reversal of carbon and capital gains taxes. When you peel off the onion’s skin, however, you realize it’s still a stinky onion.
After nine years of deficits now totalling over $650 billion, are we to expect that a new Liberal government will balance the budget? Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, now a contender for the leadership, rarely whispers the words “fiscal prudence.” The likely winner of the leadership race, Mark Carney, says he’ll balance the “operational” budget in three years except for any spending that “grows the economy.” Maybe he’s referring to capital spending, which is depreciated rather than expensed so as to show a smaller cash deficit, though it still runs up the debt. But 90 per cent of voters have no clue as to the distinction.
The Liberals love creating capitalized multi-year funds like the highly-conflicted Sustainability Development Technology Canada, whose multi-billion commitments don’t show up as expenditures until later years. It looks like this practice will continue in spades as Carney’s growth plan is based on using public, pension and private money to invest in politically driven projects — such as high-speed rail. As is the Liberal custom, there are bound to be conditions, including local content, diversity, equity, inclusion, unionized wages, and careful attention to climate considerations. Or are the Liberals genuinely changing their spots and doing away with such add-on costs?
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Jack Mintz is the President’s Fellow at the University of Calgary’s school of public policy and a distinguished fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
