TORONTO—In light of Ottawa’s huge budget deficit and mounting debt, the federal government should adopt a rule—legislated by Parliament—to push the government towards budget balance, which will help increase productivity growth and the possibility of a four-day work week, finds a new essay released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“When governments rack up high levels of debt to finance spending, private investment is crowded out, which of course lowers productivity growth,” said Jack Mintz, president’s fellow at the University of Calgary and author of the essay Putting Government on a Financial Diet: The Role of Statutory Fiscal Rules.
