CANADA FALLS BEHIND ON KEY FISCAL INDICATORS

 The Trudeau government has generally favoured relative comparisons of its performance (i.e. how we rate versus other countries) rather than historical comparisons. Recent data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicates that, among 35 industrialized countries in 2020, Canada’s economic and fiscal performance has been relatively poor.

For example, the IMF expects Canada (provincial and federal governments) to accumulate more debt in 2020 than any other industrialized country—specifically, that Canadian governments will borrow the equivalent of 19.9 per cent of GDP. This is more than 46 per cent higher than the average (9.3 per cent) for all 35 industrialized countries.