By Shachi Kurl, Executive Director
Sept. 4, 2020 – Erin O’Toole says he’ll aim to “erase” Canada’s budget deficit in 10 years.
Does anyone care?
Of course, that’s rather a cheeky question. Indeed, 23 per cent of Canadian adults, in a recent Angus Reid Institute survey, identify government spending and the deficit as top issues facing the country. That represents well more than six million people. So yes, a lot of people care.
But these, as we all know, are such different times. And the politics of deficit reduction, just like everything else, are different too.
Context is a delicious thing. The deficit may be the main preoccupation of millions of Canadians, but the COVID-19 pandemic occupies the frontal lobes of millions more. Further, our concern over deficit spending has ebbed and flowed over the years and finds itself in a most curious place today.
For the rest of this piece, please view it on the Ottawa Citizen’s site where it was initially published.
Image credit – Erin O’Toole/Flickr