ICYMI - Matt Gurney: Trudeau hasn't earned any benefit of doubt on deficits
Here’s the thing: for the most part, this is defensible. The prime minister’s legions of defenders are quick to claim that the choice was between deficits and either tens of thousands more dead Canadians or a cratered economy, or both. These boosters often get a bit carried away in their overenthusiastic defence of the PM, but there is some truth to what they say — the emergency was serious enough to warrant major spending.
There’s no way to actually measure what the limit of that tolerance is. But people will want to feel good about Canada’s response, and the obvious examples of other comparable countries that performed worse than us will buttress the Liberals, especially since one of those struggling countries is the U.S., and we all know how much Canadians love feeling superior to our southern siblings.
And the prime minister’s comment on Wednesday absolutely makes it harder. It’s embarrassing. It’s one thing to make the case that the pandemic made huge deficit spending necessary. It’s another thing to say that the government did it so that Canadians didn’t have to. Discussions about deficits and debt always eventually veer into debates about debt-to-GDP ratios and historically low interest rates and the ability of central banks to finance their own spending, but what these debates overlook or obscure is a simple but unavoidable truth: even sovereign federal governments, even those of rich countries like Canada, and even those who look good compared to their G7 peers, must contend with reality.
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