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The Niagara Independent, July 22, 2022 \u2013<\/em> There is a political meme circulating these days of PM Justin Trudeau and Deputy PM and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland whispering to one another. Trudeau leans over to ask, \u201cHow did we destroy the economy so badly?\u201d Freeland reminds her friend, \u201cWell, you\u2019re a drama teacher and I\u2019m a journalist, so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The country\u2019s financial community may have known for some time but now there is an increasing number of Canadians learning that this meme accurately sums up Ottawa\u2019s fiscal mismanagement.<\/p>\n Again, this week the economic news is grim for Canadians.<\/p>\n The country\u2019s inflation rate hit 8.1 per cent, and that was after the Bank of Canada shocked our financial markets with a full percentage point interest rate hike. The stubbornly high inflation rate spells more interest rate shock therapy in the near future, and inevitability that is sure to exacerbate the financial woes most Canadians are stressing over these days.<\/p>\n Statistics Canada factors the price of store-bought food in Ontario has risen by 10 per cent or more since last June (in April and May it was 9.7 per cent). Stats Can also reveals gas prices have risen more than 55 per cent compared to a year ago.<\/p>\n The rising cost of living is taking its toll on Canadians. A MNP survey reveals 59 per cent of Canadians are concerned about their financial situation, and 27 per cent are cutting back on food, utilities, and housing just to get by. The Toronto organization Stop Community Food Centre reports that there has been a 26 per cent increase in families with children accessing their food bank in 2022.<\/p>\n Many financial experts have assessed Canada\u2019s current economic state and point to the federal government\u2019s spending as the primary cause of pain that Canadians are only beginning to feel. In an informative National Post<\/i> column, John Ivison interviews Philip Cross, former chief economic analyst at Statistics Canada. Cross provides this important background:<\/p>\n \u201cNearly two years ago, the OECD said that, as Canada\u2019s GDP fell by 10 per cent in the second pandemic-hit quarter of 2020, household income grew by 11 per cent, thanks to generous government hand-outs. The same phenomenon did not happen in Germany, France, the U.K. or the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n Cross also provides key numbers required to begin to understand the country\u2019s financial problems:<\/p>\n Cross states that the 2020 pandemic year was \u201cthe only recession in Canadian history where people were actually better off.\u201d He says, \u201cWe just stuck a huge mixer in the economy and hit top speed. We are still trying to figure out what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n John Ivison cleverly calls it \u201cTrudeau\u2019s helicopter money experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n The Liberal government followed up its 2020 pandemic experiment with yet further spending. Finance Minister Freeland\u2019s 2021 and 2022 budgets earmarked billions of dollars in new initiatives. With Trudeau and Freeland, there appears to be no forecasted balanced budgets.<\/p>\n A recent report by the Fraser Institute calculates that the federal debt per person has grown to a total of 35 per cent under Justin Trudeau since 2015, which includes an increase of more than 25 per cent from 2019 to 2022. Soaring annual deficits are sure to be the hallmark and the legacy of the Trudeau government.<\/p>\n Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, has described this government\u2019s spending as being seriously out of control. After Freeland\u2019s 2021 fiscal update, Terrazzano sounded the alarm bells: \u201cThe cost of living is soaring and Canadians should be worried about how the government is going to pay for its unprecedented spending and hundreds of billions of dollars in new debt. The feds need to stop dishing out cash we don\u2019t have and pouring fuel on the inflation fire. Freeland needs to hit the brakes on this government\u2019s runaway spending train.\u201d<\/p>\n This week in a BNN Bloomberg New<\/i>s interview, former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge echoed the concern that the federal government was adding \u201cfuel to the fire.\u201d Dodge called on Freeland to postpone the government\u2019s 2022 budget expenditures to help get inflation back under control. His advice to Canadians was to contact MPs to \u201cask the [finance] minister why she\u2019s not doing what she can from her side in order to help control the excess demand at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Chrystia Freeland has heard the suggestion from the financial community a few times recently that she is not doing enough to combat inflation.<\/p>\n This repeated critical analysis of Freeland from the country\u2019s leading financial minds has left Canadians shaken. Four of every five Canadians have lost faith in the Trudeau government to manage the country\u2019s economy. According to a recent Maru Public Opinion poll, 55 per cent of Canadians do not believe Trudeau has a \u201csolid plan\u201d to battle inflation and weather the country through economic troubles.\u00a0Another 25 per cent believe the PM is on the wrong track.<\/p>\n In the same poll, Canadians showed no more confidence in Chrystia Freeland: 55 per cent of Canadians believe that the finance minister has no plan to tackle inflation and 24 per cent believe Freeland has a specifically \u201cbad plan.\u201d<\/p>\n On one hand we have Justin Trudeau who frankly admitted that he does not think about monetary policy and, on the other hand, we have Chrystia Freeland who nonsensically lectures us that inflation is the reason we must double down on climate change.<\/p>\n There is no wonder how \u201cwe\u201d got into this economic mess. That meme of the two of them would be funny if it were not so true.<\/p>\n Chris George<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is an Ottawa-based government affairs advisor and wordsmith, president of\u00a0CG&A COMMUNICATIONS<\/a>. Contact:\u00a0ChrisG.George@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n
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