LIBERALS' INABILITY TO BALANCE THE BUDGET

   Much was made recently about the next federal election being less than a year away. A lingering issue for the Trudeau government, in particular the prime minister and the minister of finance, is their ability to soundly manage the country’s finances.
   While much of the attention has rightly focused on the government’s ongoing inability to balance its budget, more focus is needed on spending, which is the underlying reason why the government can’t match spending with revenues. Indeed, the government’s philosophy on spending seems to be to spend as much as possible given current revenues and its ability (both economically and politically) to borrow.
   Upon winning the fall election, the Liberals immediately increased spending. Their first budget as government (released in the spring of 2016) projected program spending in 2016-17 to increase to $291.4 billion, an increase of $28.2 billion or 10.7 per cent in one year. Almost all the new spending was to be financed by borrowing, with the annual deficit projected to reach $29.4 billion in 2016-17.