QUESTION PERIOD — Finance
Fiscal Management
December 11, 2024
Senator Gold, with Canada’s deficit now rumoured to be over $60 billion, far beyond the $40-billion guardrail promised by Minister Freeland, how do you justify the level of spending your government continues to engage in, including the GST tax trick that will only cost Canadians in the long run? Your government is playing loose and fast with nominal GDP growth, acting like it’s a blank cheque to overspend in what can only be described as a lame-duck attempt to hold on to power.
Senator Gold, do you and Justin Trudeau still believe that budgets will balance themselves, and is fiscal discipline completely and simply off the table with this Trudeau government?
Senator Housakos, once again, the premises of your question are simply incorrect. This government has never said that budgets would balance themselves. What this government has done and continues to commit to is to invest in the future of Canadians and this country.
For example, let me remind you of the investment this government has made in the Housing Accelerator Fund, a program that your leader has vowed to cut even as he promises to substitute it partially with some other as-yet-to-be-elaborated-upon plan. The City of Calgary will receive $228 million to support its initiatives in housing. Banff will receive money to support its action plan. The cities of Edmonton, Burnaby, Vancouver — we’re talking about thousands and thousands of homes to be built through the investments that this government is making to solve real problems for Canadians. That costs money, and the government is focused on investing in Canadians while doing so in a fiscally responsible manner.
Senator Gold, from your answer, you’re living in a fantasy world. Prime Minister Trudeau is well documented on video and audio having said that budgets balance themselves, and now in a question about balancing a budget, you’re talking about all the spending your government does. My God! Canada’s real GDP growth is the worst among G7 nations over the last 10 years, but you take nominal GDP growth — a snapshot of a time and place — and run around like chickens with your heads cut off as if you are in great financial shape.
The question is now very simple: Will your government have an anchor in place in order to stop the sinking of a generation of Canadians down to the bottom of the ocean?
The budget this government has produced has the projections, as we all know, and that is why I answered as I did, senator. With respect, Canada remains in a solid financial position, and it —
— and this government will continue to do its best to help Canadians in this regard.
