It’s selling big in Justin Trudeau’s Land of Sunny Lanes.
• Also read: Quebecers’ savings have shrunk by 37% in one year
In a speech to his caucus, he presented his government as a positive vision for the future with positive solutions for Canadians. All to create a contrast to what he describes as anger and fury being stirred up by his conservative opponent.
With Pierre Poilievre accusing him of being responsible for all the ills plaguing ‘broken Canada’, Justin Trudeau has little choice in offering positive rhetoric.
It’s his trademark. Except that it hides an unobtrusive reality that is likely to catch up with it.
dunce
The Trudeau administration has “invested” hundreds of billions to look after Canadians and help those who want to enter the middle class, he likes to repeat.
However, he continued to ignore the biggest problem facing the Canadian economy: its low productivity.
All of this may sound very technical and boring, but it is productivity that ensures economic growth. And this growth finances our social network and our quality of life.
However, in a major study published last spring, the OECD concluded that Canada has the worst prospects for per capita growth not only through 2030 but also through 2060 among developed economies.
The problem is not new, but what is absurd is how little liberals have paid attention to it.
In fact, it’s more popular to offer subsidized childcare from coast to coast, offer housing loans and rely on mass immigration to solve all problems.
However, the billions spent on this social policy do not have the same leverage effect on our collective wealth as if they were invested in a coherent economic policy.
The wall
Has the Trudeau government woken up? This hints at his offensive in favor of strategic minerals to help Canada lead the energy transition.
The Biden government has pledged nearly $400 billion for this as part of its Inflation Reduction Act.
How to address this? Lend ? Quiet ? And how much, considering that tens of billions have to be spent on health as well? And military spending in the face of the war in Ukraine?
If the Liberals had shown restraint, Canada would have some leeway.
But there isn’t. Worse, former Deputy Treasury Secretary and former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge recently concluded he was playing with fire.
On the one hand, he accuses the Trudeau government of having largely underestimated the costs of its ambitions. On the other hand, it clearly shows that the weight of the accumulated debt puts Canada in a precarious position.
The finance minister’s reply? Chrystia Freeland disagrees with these conclusions, nothing more.
Trouble is, they were issued by Canada’s ultimate public finance guru, the senior official who helped Paul Martin balance the budget!
