The budget has been widely criticized as a spendthrift fiscal plan that could condemn Canada to years of debt-induced anemic economic growth. “Big spending, big deficits, big debt, high taxes, high inflation and bond market challenges are not the path to prosperity,” Scotiabank economist Derek Holt wrote on Budget Day. That was a slap at the Trudeau government’s prebudget signalling that this would be a “restraint” budget with only the leanest of new spending measures. Lost in the outrage were some salient facts suggesting that Ottawa’s latest fiscal plan, while hardly bereft of shortcomings, is a responsible document. The bottom line is that Budget 2023 is far closer to a genuine restraint budget than its fiscally conservative critics acknowledge.

Source: thestar April 08, 2023 22:02 UTC