You know the old joke: what’s black and white and read all over? Let’s give it a twist for our own purposes: what’s not black, not white, just red all over?
The federal budget pages, all 700-plus of them, released on Monday were positively dripping with red ink. Inside were forecasts for a $154.7 billion deficit for the 2020/21 fiscal year, and projections that 2021/22 federal government program spending will reach $475.6 billion (excluding net actuarial losses). Broken down, this spending is forecasted to reach $12,697 per person, the second-highest level (inflation-adjusted) in Canadian history.
Also included within the budget was a three-year stimulus plan and a $30 billion national childcare strategy over a five-year period.
Jake Fuss, Senior Economist, and Alex Whalen, Policy Analyst, break it all down for the Fraser Forum blog, writing:
“While emergency spending was necessary to deal with the fallout of the pandemic, COVID-related spending only constitutes a relatively small portion of program spending this year. Indeed, of the $12,697 in spending per person, only 12 percent will be spent on measures directly related to COVID.”
Not included within the budget was an effective strategy for recovery, nor any considerations that ever-more government debt will result in slower economic growth as it increases uncertainty and imposes the cost of current spending on future taxpayers, they write.
