Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau gave Canadians an economic update last week, and the news wasn’t great. The federal deficit continues to grow and will reach $19.6 billion next year – far more than what Justin Trudeau promised in the last election.
Federal officials say the budget won’t be balanced until the year 2045, raising concerns that Canada now has a structural deficit built into the way it spends our tax money. And if a recession hits, that deficit number could more than double.
Jason Clemons is the Executive Vice President of the Fraser Institute and has been writing on federal finances at fraserinstitute.org. He joined Rick via Skype.
Rick Cluff is an award-winning journalist who hosted the popular CBC Radio Vancouver morning program “The Early Edition” from 1997 until his retirement in April of 2018.
He has conducted more than 50,000 interviews and asked more than half a million questions, of prime ministers, premiers, presidents and some of the world’s biggest sports and entertainment personalities.
