March 28, 2024

BY RILEY LINSEMAN

A financial report released by the Finance Department last month suggests that Canadians’ wallets will be taking a hit once again. The report is looking ahead to 2050 and beyond, making many predictions about the country’s finances.

The Liberals have been known to be big spenders and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t changing that perception. Looking as little as eight years ahead (2025), Andy Blatchford, a Canadian Press journalist who analysed the report, wrote in a Jan. 5 article the government will have run up a $25-billion deficit. The report states that it looks like the deficit will continue to grow, with $36 billion being added to it in 2030, and another $38.8 billion in 2035, $33.9 billion in 2040, $21.6 billion in 2045 and $2.2 billion in 2050.

An even scarier thought is what all these add up to.

“If such a scenario plays out, the document says federal debt could climb past $1.55 trillion in 2050, more than double its current amount,” Blatchford said in the article.

How can a government rack up this much debt? The report suggests it’s because baby boomers are starting to retire now. For the first time in the history of Canada, there are more people 65 years of age and over than there are children under 15, Blatchford said. This means there will be fewer people working, thus fewer paying income tax, but more money being spent on programs and services for seniors.

During the election, one of the reasons people voted Liberal was because they were assured the party would never run up more than $10 billion in deficits. They promised we’d be out of debt by 2019.

The reason so much money is currently being spent is to try and help Canada’s weak economy. According to a story in the Financial Post, the country’s economy will stay stuck on a less-than-five per cent growth rate until 2030. The estimated rate for 2016-2020 is 1.8 per cent and only 2 per cent from 2021-2030.

Despite this, the government shouldn’t be spending like it’s Christmas. Running up a trillion-dollar deficit is outrageous and unacceptable. Fiscal responsibility must be the order of the day, or future generations will pay dearly for the Liberals’ mismanagement.

The views herein represent the position of the newspaper, not necessarily the author.

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