Matthew Lau: Trudeau offers more ridiculous nonsense on the economy
The PM says worrying about the economy is for bankers. But the two million Canadians who used food banks last year have every reason to worry
Last week the federal government announced a $4.7-billion tax expenditure, along with a two-month sales tax change that will create severe administrative and logistical nightmares for businesses, and whose effect on federal revenue the government seems to have badly miscalculated. According to economist Trevor Tombe, it will likely cost around $3.0 billion, versus the $1.6 billion the government estimates. Ottawa branded this $7.7-billion package an affordability measure and tax “holiday.” It is nothing of the kind. It is ridiculous nonsense, which this government delivers on a regular basis and is what Canadians really need a holiday from.
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If I’m not mistaken, this means the feds made a roughly $1.4 billion (ish) mistake in their costing of the GST holiday.
— Trevor Tombe (@trevortombe) November 22, 2024
They estimated $1.6 billion in foregone GST revenues (~3% of total). For the HST provinces, the compensation they’re entitled to in the tax coordination… https://t.co/tcwoLGXgNx
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Alas, no such holiday is forthcoming. The very next day Justin Trudeau proclaimed — at yet another spending announcement — “We’re focused on Canadians. Let the bankers worry about the economy.” Just what will happen to the well-being of the Canadians on whom he is supposedly focused if the economy continues to tank, Trudeau did not say. And the economy is tanking — which harms all Canadians, not just bankers.
Here is a longer clip of Trudeau saying let the bankers worry about the economy. This answer is nonsense. pic.twitter.com/uVuwLGjhh8
— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) November 22, 2024
Later this week, Statistics Canada will release third-quarter GDP numbers that almost certainly will show real GDP per capita has declined yet again. Since Trudeau took office through to the second quarter of 2024, which is very close to one full decade, real per capita GDP has grown just 0.6 per cent in Canada — versus 16.4 per cent in the United States. And the gap continues to widen: in contrast to the likely third-quarter reduction in Canada, real GDP per capita grew another 0.6 per cent in the United States. Moreover, a will show from RBC Economics suggests Canada’s real GDP per capita will fall yet again in the final quarter of the year. Put it another way: if real GDP per capita growth in Canada had matched U.S. growth since Trudeau took office, Canadians’ incomes today would be approximately 17 per cent higher on average.
The prime minister’s statement about letting bankers worry about the economy was made at an announcement about federal spending on school food programs in Ontario. The accompanying news release was titled, “Healthy meals for kids, savings for Ontario families.” Ironically, just last month Food Banks Canada released its annual statistics, including the number of food bank visits in March of each year. The 2024 report shows monthly food bank visits surging to 2,059,636, up six per cent since 2023, 90 per cent since 2019 and 142 per cent since 2015. These more than two million monthly visits to food banks include nearly 700,000 by children under the age of 18, “an increase of over 300,000 visits per month compared to five years ago,” Food Banks Canada reported.
Whether or not the prime minister worries about the economy, Canadians accessing food banks do. As it happens, the number using food banks monthly is about seven times the number of bank employees (workers at financial institutions, that is, not food banks). So even if every single banker in Canada were using a food bank, and I doubt many are, the vast majority of Canadians who have probably the best possible reason for worrying about the economy — namely, food insecurity — are not bankers.
Nor are many of the nearly 700,000 children using food banks employed as bankers. Walk around the financial district in downtown Toronto and hardly anyone entering a bank tower carrying a briefcase or laptop bag is a child. Yet these 700,000 also have reason to worry — prematurely — about the economy.
Whether bankers, children using food banks, or anyone else, all Canadians’ standards of living would surely benefit if during Trudeau’s time in office he had not tanked real GDP per capita so badly. An additional 17 per cent of income would come in handy for anyone.
While we are on the topic of bankers, banking, and government unconcern with economics and finance, it is worth noting that next week Canada’s large and mid-sized banks will publish their annual financial results for the year ended Oct. 31. We can expect that every one of them will do so and that it will be a major news story if any fail to. By comparison, the federal government has a March 31st year end and yet, eight months later, it still has not got round to publishing its accounts for the 2023-24 fiscal year. The politicians running it evidently don’t have time to concern themselves with finances and the economy, either. Too busy, it seems, helping the prime minister prepare announcements of ridiculous nonsense.
Matthew Lau is a Toronto writer.
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