It’s tax time, which is always depressing in Canada thanks to the country’s spendthrift federal government.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Diane Francis: Trudeau's gross fiscal mismanagement Back to video

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

The Trudeau Liberals have overspent and overtaxed for years, creating an uncompetitive business environment that drives out jobs. Then, to make matters worse, the government “bribes” companies with subsidies and grants to create jobs. This perpetuates a vicious cycle: subsidies are paid out of high taxes, which in turn increase taxes, necessitating more subsidies in order to maintain levels of employment.

Reducing the cost of doing business by cutting government waste and taxes would attract jobs and investment. But in Canada, federal largess is baked into the system. Government incentives to the auto sector to build battery and electric vehicle plants now total $42.7 billion — nearly three times more than the $16 billion the industry contributes to Canada’s GDP.

Here’s a collection of other examples of the federal government’s profligacy and operational incompetence.

The government’s ArriveCan app debacle cost taxpayers $60 million, when the app was budgeted to cost only $80,000.

In testimony to a parliamentary committee on April 8, Canada Post detailed how the drop in mail volumes and increased competition in parcel delivery have caused financial strains for the Crown corporation, and warned that, “We will be releasing our annual report in the coming weeks, which will provide more insight into the gravity of our financial situation.”

In March, it was reported that the Canada Revenue Agency has so far fired 232 employees for fraudulently receiving Canada Emergency Response Benefit payments during the pandemic, and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said he asked the RCMP to investigate over $5 million that various sub-contractors are suspected of double-billing to multiple federal departments.

Here’s a great letter to the editor from National Post reader Charles Hooker questioning the $1.4 billion allocated by the Liberals to the CBC, which then cut 800 jobs and gave out $15 million in bonuses: “It puzzles me why over a billion dollars is paid annually to the Liberal Broadcasting Corporation (a.k.a. CBC), though I suppose the reason is apparent.… It also puzzles me why the CBC’s president complained about the need for more money while handing out almost $15 million in bonuses.”

Despite enormous expenditures, CBC’s latest quarterly report shows that its audience share for its main English-language TV channels dropped to 5.1 per cent, from 7.6 per cent in 2017-18. This means the network is not only a pork barrel payout, but isn’t watched or needed.

Since 2015, deficits have ballooned and Ottawa’s debt interest has nearly doubled in just two years.

In January, a Montreal Economic Institute report, titled “Bloat in the Federal Public Service,” quantified the extent of the Trudeau government’s mismanagement. “Under Justin Trudeau’s current government … we are witnessing a truly unprecedented expansion in the size of the civil service,” it states in its preamble. In 2015, when Trudeau was first elected, there were less than 260,000 federal employees. By March 2023, the total hit 357,247.

“Moreover, this expansion of the workforce entails additional spending, which requires additional public debt, ultimately leading to increased fiscal pressure on Canadian taxpayers. Between 2015 and 2022, federal personnel costs rose by 53 per cent to $60.6 billion. Canada’s gross debt also grew at a very high rate over this period, increasing almost 50 per cent after adjusting for inflation,” reads the report.

If the Government of Canada were a publicly traded company, it would have no shareholders or investors.

Financial Post