First came the campaign promises. Then the victory speeches. But nothing cuts to the chase in assessing the direction of a new government like its first budget.
Government at its core is about what we value and prioritize. Nothing says that quite like cash.
On Tuesday, Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau delivered his first “sunny ways” budget. There were words that harkened back to country building from other eras. “Growing” and ‘“investment” were key words Tuesday rather than “spending.” Although spending is clearly what’s on the agenda, to the surprise of no one.
The Liberals broadcast their intentions to spend their way into citizens’ good graces both during and since the election.
Trudeau made many promises and the budget was time to pony up.
By most assessments he did that, sprinkling money across a wide-range of programs meant to boost the ‘middle class’ – a catch-all that now includes the vast majority of us.
There’s new cash for large municipal projects, new benefits for children, seniors, veterans, youth.
The struggle for the Liberals – as it is for most Canadians – is how to pay for it all without nearly enough cash.
Turns out our government does the same thing we do when we can’t pay expenses – go into debt. A promised $10-billion deficit came in Tuesday closer to $30 billion.
The Liberals are betting Canadians will be OK with taking a lot longer to pay that down than originally stated.
And that we’re less concerned with the size of the deficit than how we use it.
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