The math is quite simple. Spending, by three levels of government, drives tax levels, and – as one comparison in the Lower Mainland demonstrates, drives economic outcomes as well.
Since taking office, the Harper government has increased program spending by 42 per cent, more than three times the combined inflation and population growth rate. It is the largest five-year increase in spending since the Trudeau era. Deficit spending has sent the federal debt back over the half-trillion-dollar mark, from $458-million in 2007. By 2011, each person in Canada will owe almost $17,000 for their portion of the federal debt.
