Opinion: Trudeau can't blame his mega-deficit entirely on the pandemic fpcomment
Today the Trudeau government presents a “snapshot” of federal finances that is likely to blame this year’s historic federal deficit on COVID-19 and the recession. That’s only part of the story. The federal government shouldn’t be allowed to escape responsibility for its deficit-prone spending and borrowing decisions pre-COVID and recession.
. In the fall of 2018, for instance, $5.5 billion in higher-than-expected revenues and $2.5 billion in lower-than-budgeted interest costs generated an unexpected budget windfall of $8 billion. But, rather than simply stick to the spending planned in the spring budget, the government hastily increased outlays by $8 billion, spending all of the found money.
Understanding how the country arrived at the deficit-financed level of spending pre-recession is key to establishing a plan to restore sustainability in Ottawa’s finances. In total, federal program spending increased by $69.1 billion between 2015 and 2019, before the onset of COVID-19 and the recession. Even after adjusting for inflation, the rise in program spending was still sizable, at $50.2 billion, representing growth of 18.4 per cent.
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