Thoughts on BC Politics and More

The federal government’s Spring Economic Update is a remarkable document casting economic success against a backdrop of crisis. Despite a trade war and the impending doom of a renegotiated CUSMA, the economy in 2025 was surprisingly robust, growing the second-fastest in the G7 and nowhere near the apocalyptic scenarios of massive drops in GDP and unemployment surges forecast in early 2025 ... CLICK HERE for the full report 

Early estimates are that the budget deficit will be $46 billion on the low end, for 2024/25, and $55 billion on the high end. Fiscal 2023/24 the deficit was $50 billion for comparison.   We now have a date of December 16. Chrystia Freeland will stand in the House of Commons and give the update as to the government's finances and how the government is on track to meet its budgetary promises and obligations. The government will then break for their Christmas holidays a couple of days later. Ms. Freeland stated when she delivered the budget last spring that she would cap the deficit at $40 billion. It was her way of taking the deficit story away from the Conservatives by promising she had it under control. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has warned for months that the $40 billion cap was never going to be met. He's cited several erroneous assumptions on revenues and the economy. He noted that spending had already far exceeded the Liberals budgetary promises....

Next week, the Trudeau government will deliver an economic “ snapshot ” of federal finances and expectations for the next few months, although stopping well short of a full budget or economic update.   The prime minister’s rationale, echoed by the finance minister, is that the economic environment is too volatile for the government to reasonably estimate its finances over anything longer than a few months. This is unacceptable and shows once again that this federal government is operating with little regard for democratic accountability.   Remember, the Liberals didn’t earn a majority mandate from voters last election. In fact, they actually finished second in the popular vote, behind the Conservatives—the Liberals had 5.91 million votes (33.1 per cent) versus 6.15 million votes for the Conservatives (34.4 per cent). The Liberal share of the popular vote is the lowest for any party forming government in Canadian history.   And yet the Trudeau government ac...