Canada’s current deficit level will be ‘unsustainable’ within 1 to 2 years: PBO

[Anonymous]

The federal government has no more than one or two years to rein in the hundreds of billions of dollars in deficits it is wracking up through coronavirus spending, or risk the debt being "unsustainable."



That's according to parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux, who spoke with The West Block's Mercedes Stephenson about the federal government's spending ahead of a throne speech on Sept. 23, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said will pitch "ambitious" new programs.



"It's without a doubt that we cannot afford deficits of over $300 billion for more than just a few years," said Giroux. "And when I say a few years, I really mean a year or two. Beyond that, it would become unsustainable.



"So if the government has plans for additional spending, it will clearly have to make difficult choices and either raise taxes or reduce other areas of spending. Because it's clear that we cannot afford to have deficits of that magnitude for even the medium term."



Trudeau said in an interview with Global News last week that he plans to roll out an "ambitious green agenda" in the throne speech, which will come after he prorogued Parliament in the midst of the WE Charity scandal.



But he has also touted the need for expanded employment supports, including new child care and social spending, and there have been recent reports of plans to increase spending, with CBC News citing one Liberal insider as saying the government plans on spending "on a scale we haven't seen before."



However,  the throne speech and any new spending promises in it come as the country is bearing the load of a $343-billion deficit this fiscal year, with no clear plan presented by the government on how it plans to pay it down — or when it will rein in spending.



Giroux said that even if the government maintains the current deficit level but shifts the spending around, that won't solve the problem — the amount, he said, needs to be brought under control.



"What's concerning is the absence of a longer-term plan," he said. "That is concerning to me and to most people who are concerned about public finances."



"But what people and credit rating agencies, financial markets and Canadians are waiting to see is what is the government's plan to get out of that crisis and what are the public finances likely to look like in the next year? And in the next couple of years?" he said.



"As the crisis is evolving and we are in months three, four, five, six and seven of this crisis, I think it's reasonable for Canadians to expect more from the government in terms of what's the plan going forward."

https://globalnews.ca/news/7316777/yves-giroux-federal-deficit-spending/">https://globalnews.ca/news/7316777/yves ... -spending/">https://globalnews.ca/news/7316777/yves-giroux-federal-deficit-spending/



Trudeau has given hints that not only does he have no plan to reign in out of control spending, but that intends to double down and spend more. That is completely irresponsible and unsustainable.

[Anonymous]

We have an election next month in Saskatchewan. The governing Saskatchewan Party has a plan to return to balanced budgets. Justine needs one too or is he going to leave the next generation with a maxed out credit card like his old man did.

[Anonymous]

The federal government has no more than one or two years to rein in the hundreds of billions of dollars in deficits it is wracking up through coronavirus spending, or risk the debt being "unsustainable."



That's according to parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux, who spoke with The West Block's Mercedes Stephenson about the federal government's spending ahead of a throne speech on Sept. 23, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said will pitch "ambitious" new programs.



"It's without a doubt that we cannot afford deficits of over $300 billion for more than just a few years," said Giroux. "And when I say a few years, I really mean a year or two. Beyond that, it would become unsustainable.



"So if the government has plans for additional spending, it will clearly have to make difficult choices and either raise taxes or reduce other areas of spending. Because it's clear that we cannot afford to have deficits of that magnitude for even the medium term."



Trudeau said in an interview with Global News last week that he plans to roll out an "ambitious green agenda" in the throne speech, which will come after he prorogued Parliament in the midst of the WE Charity scandal.



But he has also touted the need for expanded employment supports, including new child care and social spending, and there have been recent reports of plans to increase spending, with CBC News citing one Liberal insider as saying the government plans on spending "on a scale we haven't seen before."



However,  the throne speech and any new spending promises in it come as the country is bearing the load of a $343-billion deficit this fiscal year, with no clear plan presented by the government on how it plans to pay it down — or when it will rein in spending.



Giroux said that even if the government maintains the current deficit level but shifts the spending around, that won't solve the problem — the amount, he said, needs to be brought under control.



"What's concerning is the absence of a longer-term plan," he said. "That is concerning to me and to most people who are concerned about public finances."



"But what people and credit rating agencies, financial markets and Canadians are waiting to see is what is the government's plan to get out of that crisis and what are the public finances likely to look like in the next year? And in the next couple of years?" he said.



"As the crisis is evolving and we are in months three, four, five, six and seven of this crisis, I think it's reasonable for Canadians to expect more from the government in terms of what's the plan going forward."

https://globalnews.ca/news/7316777/yves-giroux-federal-deficit-spending/">https://globalnews.ca/news/7316777/yves ... -spending/">https://globalnews.ca/news/7316777/yves-giroux-federal-deficit-spending/



Trudeau has given hints that not only does he have no plan to reign in out of control spending, but that intends to double down and spend more. That is completely irresponsible and unsustainable.

And yet, if the polls are correct, Canadians are going to give him a majority if we have an election in November.

 :001_rolleyes:

[Anonymous]

And it will be my province that does it too.

[Anonymous]

Trudeau's reelection strategy is the same as his father before him and the same as 2019. He is running against the prairie provinces.



By Lorne Gunter of Sun News Media



Canada may soon see Screw the West 2.0



Like father, like son. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is reportedly readying a throne speech that will propose to remake Canada in his ultra-"progressive," super"green" image, it's instructive to reflect on a speech his father delivered while prime minister 40 years ago this week.



On September 8, 1980, then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau addressed a first ministers' conference in Ottawa. He argued Canada should be even more centralized than it already was.



All 10 premiers had spoken before Trudeau. Most had suggested Canada needed less centralization. Federal constitutional powers should devolve as much as possible to provincial legislatures. Trudeau disagreed.



Not only was Canada



"more than the sum of its parts, more than the sum of 10 provinces," Trudeau scoffed, Canadians actually wanted more Ottawa.



Trudeau believed Canadians wanted "national institutions and a national government capable of acting on behalf of all of them ... with the power to speak for all Canadian people." National health, education and welfare standards were needed, for instance, despite our constitution giving those jurisdictions entirely to the provinces.



Trudeau also felt the central government should play a much more active role in taking money from "have" provinces and "sharing" it with have-nots. The federal equalization plan had to be entrenched in the constitution and it had to expand, greatly.



If any Westerners bought into Trudeau's grandiose national scheme at the time, they were quickly cured of their naivete.



A little more than a month after Trudeau uttered his fancy words, his government introduced the National Energy Program — the largest confiscation and redistribution of income from one province or region to the national government in our history.



The NEP was also an enormous attack on the constitutional division of powers between federal and provincial governments.



Trudeau's vision of a single government that spoke for all Canadians turned out to be a government that spoke primarily for Liberal voters in the Golden Triangle — Toronto-Montreal-Ottawa.



The narrow appeal of Trudeau's grand plan shouldn't have surprised anyone. During the federal election in February 1980, the Liberal war room's unofficial campaign slogan had been "Screw the West, we'll take the rest!"



Now jump ahead four decades.



Justin Trudeau's Liberals are broadly hinting that the throne speech expected later this month will be a blueprint for a new, far more left-leaning Canada. And, if anything,



Trudeau will double or even triple Canada's commitment to the United Nations' climate change goals.



There are rumours of annual deficits of approximately 10 per cent of GDP to fund the Liberals' wild new schemes, such as guaranteed annual income (even for those who choose not to work) and national pharmacare and day care.



Since Canada's GDP is approximately $1.7 trillion, that would mean the federal government would borrow in excess of $150 billion each and every budget — with no plan in sight to pay that back.



Trudeau's new plan is also as regionally biased as his father's was in 1980.



Even to meet the Liberals' current climate emission targets, Canada's oil and gas industry would have to be capped or shrunk noticeably. Now there is a belief among Liberal strategists that nothing short of shutting down the oilsands will convince Quebec voters to come back to their party.



Screw the West 2.0. No doubt, Trudeau will offer to use some of the mountains of debt Ottawa will take on to throw Alberta and the West a few bones to make up for lost energy income.



There will, also, be glittering (and hollow) reassurances that the country can switch from fossil fuels to "green," alternate energy without any economic decline, job loss or reduced standard of living.



At least there is no mystery where the current Trudeau gets his narrow view of what's good for "all" Canada.

[Anonymous]

The budget will balance itself.

[Anonymous]

I don't mind deficits as long as we have something to show for it. The states had full employment before the pandemic. Trudeau is running massive deficits while sending our resource producing jobs overseas.