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In-Your-Service

Canada's debt continues to grow

Canada's spiralling debt

Economic uncertainty is gripping Canada as the Liberal government spirals out of control and a massive yearly deficit was disclosed.

Canada’s former finance minister abruptly resigned from cabinet in a scathing letter sent to the prime minister, just hours before she was to table the Fall Economic Statement. The government House leader tabled the economic statement in the House of Commons, and then left, without comment or debate.

In last year’s budget, the then finance minister made a promise to Canadians—that the deficit will not rise above a $40 billion “guardrail.” We now know this year’s deficit is $62 billion – 55% higher.

There is no government in the history of Canada that has ever run a deficit that large.

The deficit is bad news, especially when considering the already worrying numbers when it comes to Canada’s debt. Canada’s federal debt is now estimated to be more than $1.24 trillion. The net federal debt per person is now more than $33,000.

The federal government has borrowed so much, that this year, it had to raise the federal debt ceiling from $1.83 trillion to $2.13 trillion. The increase is drastic, even for this government, as in 2021 the debt ceiling was $1.16 trillion.

It only took the current prime minister’s (government) nine years to incur more debt than every other prime minister’s (government) in Canada’s history, combined. When (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) took office in 2015, the debt was $616 billion, half of what it is now.

The current government has incurred massive yearly deficits, including outside of pandemic years’ spending. And even then, $205 billion was for “non-COVID-19 measures,” according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

As a result of those substantial increases, the interest we must pay to service our accrued debt has increased to more than $53 billion annually. Like with a credit card, the more the government borrows, the more interest must be paid servicing the accrued debt.
As a comparison, that’s more than the total amount collected from GST ($52 billion) and more than the total amount spent on government services, including Employment Insurance (EI) benefits ($26.6 billion), The Canada Child Benefit ($29.6 billion) or provincial healthcare transfers ($52.1 billion).

Despite all that borrowing, the lack of sound fiscal and economic policies has seen the Canadian economy deteriorate. Even the former finance minister had enough of the prime minister’s spending demands and resigned, calling the measures “costly political gimmicks.”

After nine years of the current government, Canadians are poorer and life costs more.

Canada’s GDP per capita fell by 3% the last four years, meaning there is less money to go around for more people. As a comparison, GDP per capita went up in the U.S. The Canadian dollar has now sunk to $.69 USD as of Dec. 18, which means anything imported from the U.S. costs more, including food, appliances and construction supplies.

Fewer people want to invest in Canada due to government red tape and tax increases like the carbon tax and capital gains tax. Canada needs a real plan to stop the spending and fix the budget.

The Conservative Party will:

1. Stop all planned tax hikes, especially the job-killing carbon tax hike. We will also axe the federal (GST) tax for most first time homebuyers.

2. Stop fuelling inflation by cutting wasteful inflationary spending on funding large ticket items like expensive consultants, “corporate welfare” and the infrastructure bank in China.

3. Stop adding debt, by implementing a dollar-for-dollar rule requiring all new federal spending be offset with an equal amount of savings.

These are real solutions to fix the budget and ensure we are not passing down increasing debt to younger generations.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have thoughts to share on the state of Canada’s debt.

•••

I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas, happy Hannukah and happy holidays. I’d like to encourage everyone to do what they can to support their neighbours, businesses and organizations, helping people in our community.

Let’s strive to embody the spirit of Kelowna-Lake Country through our generosity if we are able, including with time. I hope you enjoy this time with friends and family.

Please reach out to 250-470-5075 or [email protected] if have any thoughts to share – on this issue or others - or if you need assistance with any federal programs.

Tracy Gray is the Conservative MP for Kelowna-Lake Country.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.



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About the Author

Tracy Gray, Conservative MP for Kelowna-Lake Country, is her party's critic for Employment, Future Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion

She is a member of the national caucus committee’s credit union caucus, wine caucus, and aviation caucus.

Gray, who has won the RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award, worked for 27 years in the B.C. beverage industry.

She founded and owned Discover Wines VQA Wine Stores, which included the No. 1 wine store in B.C. for 13 years. She has been involved in small businesses in different sectors — financing, importing, oil and gas services and a technology start-up — and is among the “100 New Woman Pioneers in B.C."

Gray was a Kelowna city councillor for the 2014 term, sat on the Passenger Transportation Board from 2010-2012 and was elected to the board of Prospera Credit Union for 10 years.

In addition, she served on the boards of the Okanagan Film Commission, Clubhouse Childcare Society, Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, Okanagan Regional Library and was chairwoman of the Okanagan Basin Water Board.

She volunteers extensively in the community and welcomes connecting with residents.

She can be reached at 250-470-5075, and [email protected]

 



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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