Blazingcatfur

On Tuesday, the federal government released its spring fiscal update, revealing a whopping budget deficit this year and continued high deficits in years to come. Despite promising a “very different approach” from his predecessor, Prime Minister Mark Carney continues to dig a deeper hole, particularly for younger generations of Canadians.

To quickly recap, the Trudeau government borrowed historically-large amounts of money to fuel its voracious spending habits. As a result, federal per-person spending and debt reached the highest levels in Canadian history (adjusted for inflation) while the government ran nine consecutive budget deficits. In other words, Trudeau created a fiscal mess.

Congratulations, Canada! On Monday, our nation joined an exclusive club: countries with sovereign wealth funds. Norway, Kuwait and other resource-rich nations have long tapped royalties and budget surpluses to fund investment vehicles: in this era of geopolitical uncertainty and an erratic neighbour, Prime Minister Mark Carney thinks it’s time Canada does the same.

While Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to double Canada’s non-U.S. exports to $600 billion annually in 10 years, a new study by the Fraser Institute suggests it’s probably unachievable.

In other words, the prime minister’s target may be an aspirational one, rather than real.

Until recently, the only CBC television program I would watch was “Still Standing,” hosted by comedian Jonny Harris. The show tackled the many examples across Canada of business failures and how their host communities had tried to recover — and are still standing. Communities like the one I live in, Nipigon, which in 2007 lost the Multiply Forest Products plywood mill to fire. A devastating event that came on the heels of the permanent shutdown of the Norampac container board mill in nearby Red Rock the year before. Two small towns on the north shore of Lake Superior were hit hard by the sudden closure of their primary industries within a year of one another.