FORSETH: It's a fact, Trudeau never, ever balanced a budget

If the median Canadian family spent and borrowed like the federal government, they would already be $427,759 in debt, and continuing to borrow. This is not a hypothetical scenario, but a stark reality that should urgently raise serious concerns about our financial future.The $39.8 billion deficit expected by Ottawa in 2024-2025 represents consecutive annual federal deficits since 2015. These continued deficits are not just numbers on a balance sheet, but a clear indication of the higher taxes that Canadians will inevitably face. The Trudeau Liberal administration has never balanced a budget, and the consequences are becoming increasingly clear.Similar recklessness is found at the provincial level. For example, the British Columbia NDP Finance Minister Katrine Conroy admitted that the BC deficit would bloom to $8.9 billion this year, with no balanced budget in sight.In BC, the provincial election is too close to call. Consequently, the government is desperate. They have gone for broke, promising not only the whole store but even the warehouse in an effort to buy off voters.However, voters know that everything the NDP promises comes from borrowed money. Despite the fact BC is on track to become the biggest debtor province in Canada, Premier David Eby doubled down on his spending plan during the televised leaders’ debate, committing to more spending. He claimed people "need the help now," but offered no hope of ever delivering a balanced budget. This is not just a political stance, but a decision that will significantly impact the financial future of the province. It is the inherent problem of lefties.Continuous annual borrowing by Ottawa to finance increased spending has driven federal total debt from 53% of the economy in 2014-15, up to an expected 69.8% in 2024-25. This significant increase in the level of federal debt is not just a number. It comes with a hurtful cost and will result in higher taxes on Canadians. The required interest payments that borrowing brings will start to crowd out the money needed to sustain our valued social programs, a future that is becoming increasingly uncertain.Since healthcare is a provincial responsibility but is helped by federal money transfers, the mismanagement of these funds by the provincial NDP becomes the greatest threat to sustaining healthcare. The federal money support, which is crucial for the functioning of our healthcare system, is also in very bad health. The promised amounts in the Canada Health Transfer may not be fully delivered, a worrying prospect for the future of our healthcare.A Fraser Institute Bulletin reflects the general philosophy of Canadian finances and its troubles. “Understanding the Scale of Canada’s Federal Deficit”I am reminded of Canada's national dilemma in the Mulroney and Chretien eras. Debt and deficit were getting very serious. Mulroney was doing what he could to turn the ship of state away from the collision course that Canada was on, set by Pierre Trudeau when last elected in 1980. The Progressive Conservatives finally managed to balance the budget for “operations” after privatizing some Crown Corporations and beginning the GST. However, the interest on the debt was a money management killer. The Progressive Conservatives no longer had the political support needed to take the next steps of corrective financial measures.Liberal Jean Chrétien came to power in October 1993. The Reform Party had made electoral gains by reminding the nation about the critical importance of debt and deficits. The leader Preston Manning's notable line was, "When you are in a hole, the first step is to stop digging."The Reform Party campaigned with its "zero is three" plan to deal resolutely with debt and deficit. They distributed thousands of broadsheets graphically displaying Canada's debt hole. They were successful in changing the national conversation about the danger of rising debt and how it undermines everything else that a government might want to do.“I knew we were in a bind and we had to do something,” admitted Chretien in a Reuters interview.The budget deficit more than doubled between 1980 and 1990, rising to 8% of GDP in 1983 and 1984, before shrinking to a still unsustainable 5.6% just before Chretien took over, and all the time debt was soaring. The debt-to-GDP ratio shot up to 67% in 1993-94 from 29% in 1980.Chretien strongly ordered finance minister Paul Martin to balance the budget, as the international financial markets were balking against Canada and our time had run out. He did it in four years but downloaded much of his problem in a hurtful way onto the provinces.The Reform Party planned to achieve the same in three years through greater internal federal discipline. Paul Martin also sought political support from the Reform Party in the Commons to keep fiscal responsibility in the media. He said he wanted Reformers to keep publicly hammering him about budgetary discipline to give him more internal political room to deal with the spenders within his own caucus. The predisposition to spend other people's money is basic to lefties.Under Conservative Prime Minister Harper, Canadian debt shrank to 29% of gross domestic product in 2008-09, from a peak of 68% in 1995-96. The budget was in the black for 11 consecutive years until the 2008-09 recession. Canada went from having the second worst fiscal position in the Group of Seven industrialized countries to the best.Prime Minister Harper soon faced a huge international financial problem with its origins offshore. However, Canada was in a good fiscal position at the time, which allowed the Conservatives to take Canada through the worst economic crisis relatively unscathed. After a period of dramatic measures, Harper balanced the budget again but warned about Justin Trudeau’s political campaign in 2015 to run a small deficit.Canada was rightly warned, but not enough of us paid heed. The nation has suffered ever since with a complete financial disaster. The ideological lefties always spend, no matter how deep are the consequences.Like the financial troubles a family would face if they resorted to using credit cards to make payments on other credit cards, continued government deficits at the federal and provincial levels add to a growing debt burden with severe consequences for Canadians. The federal government must urgently change its fiscal policy and spending behaviour to avoid a disastrous outcome. Leftie spending provincial governments must be dismissed as too costly as they eventually hurt everyone.

FORSETH: It's a fact, Trudeau never, ever balanced a budget

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