Roundup: Dredging up deficit panic

Posted on by

We’ve seen a return of questions in the past few days about the federal deficit – while the Public Accounts have shown that it was a little smaller than projected, it’s still there. The Conservatives hope to make hay over this in the next election, and as part of his “one year to go” speech over the weekend, Andrew Scheer repeated the lines that Stephen Harper mockingly performed over the election about how the Liberals promised just a “tiny little deficit” and well, it doesn’t look like they’ll make balance next year like they initially promised. Mind you, Scheer and his crew also ignores the fact that the Liberals were handed a $70 billion hole in GDP when they took over, so their spending promises are pretty much in line with their promises, but they made the choice to simply borrow to make up the difference – and yes, governing is about choices. Kind of like how the Conservatives chose to underfund a number of major projects in order to achieve the illusion of a balanced budget, that the Liberals had to then pick up the pieces on (Phoenix, Shared Services), and that’s also part of why they’re in the red. But you know – details.

In light of all of this fear-mongering, Kevin Milligan does the math on deficits, and well, it’s not quite the doom we’ve been thinking, as the debate remains trapped in the nineties and isn’t catching up to current realities.

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1053691438829985794

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1053692158564163585

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1053694039445274624

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1053695340774223872

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1053696086911541249

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1053697398403358721

Meanwhile, Andrew Coyne worries about the deficits, with the recall about how the not-so-big deficits of the seventies suddenly metastasized out of control in the eighties, but he doesn’t math out his fears either.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau will be in Toronto today to discuss how the carbon tax rebate system will work for provinces that will be subject to the federal backstop mechanism.
  • In the wake of the PMO saying the “Incident Response Group” met to discuss the Khashoggi/Saudi Arabia situation, here’s an explanation of what that Group is.
  • Trudeau did hint that they might suspend LAV sales to Saudi Arabia over the incident, while there are more calls for Magnitsky Act sanctions.
  • Chystia Freeland met with officials from the incoming Mexican government, and they hope the steel tariffs will be lifted upon signing the New NAFTA.
  • One of the 2009 auto bailouts has been written off by the government to the tune of $2.6 billion, because they couldn’t collect from the restructured corporation.
  • There were another $1.1 billion in other write-offs for things like student loans.
  • Canadian immigration officials have deemed that the US remains a “safe third country” despite the Trumpocalypse.
  • The Auditor General says that there’s been no real change to the Phoenix fiasco over the past year. Whee!
  • The Liberals are threatening to disband a riding association because they’re demanding an open nomination for a protected incumbent.
  • Yesterday’s Conservative Supply Day motion was about dealing with returning foreign fighters, and it’s vague enough that the government supported it.
  • The Conservatives have launched new ad campaigns that are a “veiled populist appeal” to help Scheer win over women voters.
  • Cannabis legalisation means the Marijuana Party has pretty much lost its reason for existing (not to mention it can’t field enough candidates). That’s a shame.
  • Here’s a look at Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe’s single-issue focus on carbon taxation.
  • Rachel Notley wants the federal government to subsidise/nationalise more rail cars to transport oil to market. (I won’t hold my breath).
  • Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column examines David Christopherson’s proposal to make Officers of Parliament appointed by special committee instead of by the PM.
  • Colby Cosh roasts Andrew Scheer’s “open letter” to voters on the one-year-to-election mark, and calls out all of its petty bullshit.

Odds and ends:

In the Law Times, I talk to immigration lawyers about the Commons immigration committee’s report on the IRB’s hiring and complaints process.

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.