National Post: Carson Jerema: 'Despite the fact the economy has returned to pre-COVID levels, there is no indication the government ever intends to return to more sensible spending rates. Just as pandemic spending winds down, other expenses are ratcheting up. The 2019 budget projected program spending for 2023-24 to be $370 billion, now expenses for that year are expected to balloon to $463 billion, a 25 per cent increase. The budget deficit is now expected to be nearly $40 billion next year compared to the now paltry-sounding $9.8 billion that was projected before the pandemic. ...
'...Inflation, of course, benefits the government. It devalues debt and increases revenues. Policies aimed at controlling costs will do nothing of the sort in the long run, as spending on dental care, child care, carbon capture and storage, incentives to buy homes or electric cars or Liberal party memberships inevitably increases the demand for those things without providing adequate supply. Higher taxes on banks and movement to a global minimum corporate tax rate will also ensure prices go up.
'Policies that might actually lower costs for average Canadians are either completely off the table, such as ending supply management, or belong to another level of government, such as loosening zoning bylaws that restrict the supply of housing. Whatever the merits of early COVID policies that initiated this current phase of inflation, the government has continued its irresponsible policies that will make life less and less affordable. Once inflation stabilizes, the official policy of the government will still be to make life more expensive.'
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