Ordinary Canadians have begun worrying about something that usually only ‘dismal scientists’ – i.e. economists – care about: our alarming federal and provincial deficits and exploding government debt.
Putting an economy into lockdown was assuredly going to reduce tax revenues and increase transfers to individuals and businesses to ameliorate the devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it only became clear this summer the extent of the fiscal damage: a federal deficit of $343.2 billion for the current fiscal year ending in March, and a federal debt exceeding $1 trillion or just under 50 per cent of gross domestic product.