Future generations will feel the burden of this federal budget that is chock-full of new programs and incredible amounts of debt, says Don Drummond, a senior fellow at C. D. Howe Institute, writing that “many of those new programs are valuable. The problem is they are not being funded but instead carried by debt.”
He continues: “The debt burden is depicted as ever so slightly and gradually declining from the current 50 percent mark. This signifies this government’s acceptance of a heavy debt burden and hence considerable risk for more than a generation.”
And while good public policy is about managing risk, this budget leaves Canadians without any sort of insurance policy for a very long time should any further shocks to the economy arise, which they most certainly will if the past fifteen years are any indication.
Still, it all could have been worse, he acknowledges. While many long-time Liberal policy commitments were included in the budget, such as funding for a national childcare plan, many others were absent.
“The budget does not advance a national pharmaceutical plan, instead suggesting the problems would be dealt with in a more strategic fashion. Gone are references to broad, expensive basic income schemes. And while there are some enrichments to Employment Insurance benefits, they are more modest than had been suggested.”
