How much federal debt is too much for Canada? | About That 

You get it my man.👍

And so much just given away whenever the PM decides he needs to look good on TV for some pet cause. Not counting when he just wants to make his friends richer.

It actually has quite a lot. We consistently put the money back into education, healthcare, public services, infrastructure, etc. The biggest reason for the current increase in debt is due to spending and the lowered productivity during the pandemic. Canada is not alone in this.

@@John.F_Kennedy Canada’s labour productivity has slipped relative to peer countries since 2000, NOT since the pandemic, the average Canadian worker would need to work almost 30% more hours to generate the same output as American workers, 25% more hours to match the output of German workers, 15% more hours to keep up with British workers, and 6% more hours to match the output of Australian workers. Canada’s rail, subway, and bus service systems are subpar by international standards for ages. We don’t even have a proper electronic system for patient health records within the same province, let alone within the country. Canada spends a lot of money on education but does not have any strategic focus, the government simply divvy up the money and we end up with a shortage of skilled workers in critical areas of healthcare and in the trades. The government has left the public housing business for at least 30 years. And Canada brought in a million immigrants within a period of two years with absolutely no plan and no attention paid to its impacts on housing.

not a good hedge.. bad business

Those costs are non negotiable.

Almost $1200 per person just to service the debt

This debt carrying cost is a major contributor to inflation.

@@matthewsemenuk8953 Not true as the debt principal can instead be paid down (or less issued in the first place), thus reducing the annual debt servicing costs. The Treasury could actively be buying back government bonds.

@@JulietMartin2022 Actually, servicing the debt reduces inflation, but issuing the debt of course in the first place increases it.

Lack of foresight will cost Canada its high standard of living.

It is imagining all inefficient government services that got into debt.

@@very_awake It already has, GDP per capita and productivity have been declining. I know many people who've left or are leaving Canada

Yeah. One year of the amount we pay in interest could clean up the tent cities from our major metro areas and get those people into homes.

Now that you have had smoke blown up your as by the cbc and it's As Clown Here is the truth in 60 seconds, look it up Inflation explained by Nobel Prize Winner - Milton Friedman

You’ll be surprised that a lot of people are just happy with the handouts - $500 here and there. Politicians love exploiting those people.

Argentines, Greeks, Sri Lankan to just name a few know...

Right. Inflation benefits the ultra rich because they are able to spend the currency when it still has value.

@@MasiukA because asset prices have disproportionately benefited from ultra low interest rates and QE

Our income tax system is progressive for a reason. Collecting funds through deficits is not progressive. Like you say, the poor are disproportionately affected by inflation, as the loss of buying power represents a larger percentage of their total wealth compared to those with more wealth. When individuals borrow, they are using existing currency. When the government borrows, it essentially creates new currency. This not only dilutes the value of all currency but also leaves a portion of it in the government's control. They're gathering OUR wealth and they're not gathering it progressively.

perfectly said

Pierre is woefully misinformed or dangerously fear-baiting to gain support and votes. Do you want to know the truth or trust the career politician? Do you trust facts and evidence if you see it? Well, then you might like "The Deficit Myth: The Biggest Lie in Politics" by 1Dime. Well researched and presented.

Omg I was thinking this exact thing. Watched Pierre’s ‘time bomb’ video directly before this one… like is this a joke?😳😳😳

Pierre is just going to sell off all our resources, utilities, and public infrastructure to American or international asset management banks and we will be forced to pay them billions for decades just to use things that our tax dollars already paid for. He makes a lot of noise about problems but hasn’t showed any actual solutions. Or worse he’ll sell away our fresh water to hedge funds like blackwater

Yeah, Ontario is doomed. You can tell the politicians don't even consider the consequences, they just continue spending and hope someone else is in office to point to when it eventually crashes.

I also think that netting assets (such as public pensions) vs debt is misleading. Ontario had that discussion with its AG during the McGuinty/Wynn terms (AG not in favor of netting the teachers' pensions).

🇨🇦 🧂

The people are not the government, governments come and go.

The debt stays, and taxes are applied to pay for it. This is slavery.

lol, fantastic way to burst a party bubble.

Like Moodys whose CEO said "our ratings are not intended to be used by anyone for any purpose" during a congressional hearing following the 2008 GFC 😂 😂 😂

lets un elect liberals.

@@nickyalousakis3851 FYI Liberal P. M. Paul Martin was a fiscal Conservative. He was also a businessman. The clowns in power know nothing about business, and the one guy who did, Morneau, they got rid of, he's a current critic of LPoC handling of finances.

@@mikemcmullin149 -- agree.... i really like paul martin. this is the thing.... no one should be voting for the same party all their lives. you change your vote based on what the country needs at the time.... or to punish an inept govt typically. switching votes is the cerebral vote. i have said many times on these forums that here in toronto it's not an intelligent vote. it's a party loyal simpleton vote.

100% agree. The current Liberal party has little to do with Paul Marin's Liberals. It is much further to the left than NDP used to be.

@mikemcmullin149 and that was why before he left office, he actually balanced the budget. We definitely need another Paul Martin. The question now is, does Polieve have that knowledge? He was a lawyer, right?

canada's debt to gdp is less than the US', what are you yapping about

Hi Mitchel, you have neglected Venice, America, Britain, and the Dutch Republic in your data mining . the "debt is good" argument does not rely on an infinite timeline whatsoever but its telling that you think it does and that you've found a "gotcha" moment to comment about. When you've done the reading, you can tell us all about it but until you actually do, maybe don't try to summarize other people's arguments incorrectly?

@krabzmorningstar6240 we're about to pay around 3X the budget of our military on debt servicing fees annualy, and what do we have to show for that debt? Are Canadians better off? Has it improved cost of living? Has our productivity improved? Or have we taken out a mortgage on the future so politicians can win votes with handouts instead of competently solving systemic problems?

@williamjameshuggins sorry, what is your argument exactly? Is it "telling" that I don't want bloated government spending that achieves little? Is it "telling" that I desire a government that lives within the means of its tax base instead of stealing through inflation to give hand-outs to special interests? Treat debt like alcohol. It can be useful but incredibly destructive too. The most "telling" thing is the debt advocates who wish to steal the productivity of working Canadians to fulfill their social vision of the nanny/welfare state.

very very well said mitch.

Good question. We should tighten up the tax laws and empower the CRA to do its job.

Too many scandals to keep track of.

Like those clowns who developed the arrivecan app...what an entertaining question period especially the "Office Space" meme version of it 😂 😂 😂

@@Alex-js5lg Work on closing the "tax gap" and eliminate tax loopholes. If the underground economy keeps growing, there is no way CRA can keep up with its audits. We may have symptoms similar to those which caused Greece's debt crisis. As the population grows (and payments for socia benefits likewise). is our tax base keeping up with this?

They can be after we defunded the Liberal mouth piece CBC 🤷‍♂️

He’s so articulate

Great idea!

Say goodbye to it and the fifth estate of PP gets in.

You just gobbled up cbc Propaganda from their resident as clown Here is the truth in 60 seconds, look it up Inflation explained by Nobel Prize Winner - Milton Friedman

ca va bien aller

You forget the waters are rising and weather is changing.

that's exactly why we're "middle of the pack" and not "super responsible" as it appears when you hive off the provinces (that was part of the shell game in the 90s - put the debt on provincial balance sheets to improve the fed gov's credit rating)

@@williamjameshuggins When discussing debt load and debt sustainability every fiscal update we always have to add each provincial and federal deficits together to get the real deficit to GDP figure, and it's an unconvincing argument, especially since the credit ratings of the provinces isn't stellar in comparison to the federal government's.

​@@trymex1694 i recommend using the OECD data on general government debt for comparative purposes (unweighted average is 89%, weighted in 121%, we ran 113% - 2022 data). the IMF data the producers cited only considers the fed gov's debt, which as you point out, is not the whole picture.

But wouldn’t you also have to add the debt burden of each state to the total to make this comparison?

@sammavitae114 yes you would, and this would change the total % debt load to GDP, however US states are far less indebted as a % of GDP when compared to Canadian provinces, with California having a ~500 billion USD debt load when compared to, say, Ontario's ~340 billion CAD debt load. I don't have the exact numbers rn but I'd find it interesting to get total debt loads, I think a comment has a link above I'll update later.

You think the debt will go down with the other nope. The only one that paid for the debit was harper.

Young people vote Liberal. You demand this kind of government and we ALL suffer it.

@@darrylwbraun not anymore. Polls show a total collapse in support by millennials

How about irresponsible and incompetent government most young people voted for. After working entire life paying taxes and pension premiums retirees are getting on average $780 a month in pension (CPP). This is below level in most developing and third word countries. In addition most of their life savings are disapearing due to high inflation caused by this government policies.

@@user-xv7cd5oe2n Can you name a single policy that this government did that contributed to "high inflation". If you're going to do the classic Con scream of "Cabon tax" I think you should know that it contributes only 1/5 th of a percent (0.15%) to inflation, i.e., for every $100 you spend it adds to about 20 cents, so you should try again. Also, can I see some sort of proof or example that developing and third-world countries that have a pension plan are getting more than Canadians are on a monthly basis?

@@darrylwbraun it makes no difference !!! The government is run like a business and basically there only try to figure out how much more they can squeeze out of you regardless of the party leading the pack !!! always been that way and always will be!!!

You can gobble up the cbc and it's resident as clown's propaganda using smoke and mirrors or Look this up right here Inflation explained by Nobel Prize Winner - Milton Friedman

@@user-ec2nn6ht9r Then it's a good thing they posted it - the internet experts can come set the records straight in the comments section.

@@user-ec2nn6ht9r Care to explain how he's wrong? I see you're an armchair expert and got your degree from Google, so let's hear how he's wrong

​@@user-ec2nn6ht9r" functioning like a real household budget." I think you might know this and are being purposely disingenuous, but two things can be similar without being the same. It's like saying Liberals and Cons are both Canadian political parties, therefore they are the same, or birds and a dragonfly both have wings so they are both birds/dragonflies. "A budget is a budget whether {it's} your income or government income." As he explained, a person's budget is not the same as say a corporation or a government, because a) their lifespan b) how your budget can change, i.e., people can't suddenly make more money by increasing the price of your good or increase taxes, but governments and corporations can. " If you need more money but can't increase your income and just print more money, you have to pay that back to the person that bought the bond, with interest." Any proof that the government is printing more money? Also, governments can increase taxes or cut spending so that right there disproves your point. "All the while you're creating inflation. Economics 101. Even the BOC says this." No, the BoC does not say this, or otherwise provide the resource. From the BoC Titled "Understanding the reasons for high inflation" -> "At the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic, prices for commodities like oil, natural gas and lumber plummeted. Because the economy was shut down, people had fewer opportunities to eat out or travel, so demand shifted suddenly from services to goods. But pandemic shutdowns also affected important pieces of the global supply chain, such as factories and ports. This meant that supply couldn’t keep up with all the extra demand for goods. As a result, prices surged. When economies reopened, prices for these commodities spiked suddenly. And because these commodities feed into so many other products and services, the ripple effect on other prices was widespread. Then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine made prices surge even more. In a nutshell, the following global forces combined to create a perfect storm: -a spike in commodity prices -a surge in the global demand for goods -impaired supply chains" This is a direct quote. Notice how your reasoning wasn't in there. From the Australian Bank: "More jobs and higher wages increase household incomes can lead to a rise in consumer spending, further increasing aggregate demand and the scope for firms to increase the prices of their goods and services. When this happens across a large number of businesses and sectors, this leads to an increase in inflation."

I'd trust a journalist to have done their research more than I would a random internet post. Moreover, I've heard what he's summarizing echoed in discussions with economists in the media and in person. @@user-ec2nn6ht9r

According to trudeau,budget will balance itself

GDP per capita*. It just looks better leaving a word out on their statistics

you guys know you can look those numbers up right? GDP per capita is up over the past 5 years (and 10 years for that matter) as is productivity over the same time frame. there is no attempt to conceal anything from anyone - all the data is public and audited.

A liberal shill CBC hand picked to plead more liberal lies 🤷‍♂️

we did talk about that, but its on the cutting room floor. they interviewed me for about 20 minutes and used 60 seconds to keep the narrative tight (within 10 mins). c'est la vie

William you should know better agreeing on interview with CBC.

Well William I am glad you understand this. Many economist do not understand what could be heading our way. I wish this was better explained how this works.

@@user-xv7cd5oe2n i don't consider it a problem, just a constraint of the format. if you want a lot of detail and nuance, its going to take longer than 10 minutes. the short-short version is that we've had low productivity growth relative to the americans for over a generation now. if we can turn that around for the next 20 years we'll get some much needed wiggle room (its tough to do, but we're not flying blind)

Brian Mulroney actually doubled the debt after Pierre Trudeau in 9 years, he also sold off what could have been a very profitable public gas company like the Netherlands has (you should look into how stable having a national gas company makes your economy) in Petro-Canada, which is now 60% owned by foreign investors. It is one of the very few ‘Canadian’ owned gas company. Mulroney also signed nafta which absolutely trashed our export values because we were forced to sell our goods to America for under market value. Doubled the debt, brought in the gst, AND signed a trash trade deal with america, good ol’ conservative in Mulroney Debt raised a bit but remained pretty stable and actually came down a decent amount (150 billion or so) by the time Chrétien and Paul Martin were done and then Harper came along and raised it by another 200 billion along with doing things like selling the Canadian Wheat Board to the Saudis which has done a tone of damage to the value of our grains for our farmers. I got those numbers from a Fraser institute study, which is very conservative friendly. Also the numbers were adjusted to 2022 dollars so might seem different depending on what you look at

@@Blingdung Between 1997 and 2008, $105 billion of the federal debt was repaid, dropping to $457.6 billion in 2007-08. Between 2008 and 2015, more than $150 billion was added back onto the federal debt, leaving it at $612 billion. According to the 2015 budget, balance had been reached. This balance was maintained through February 2016. The 2016 budget began the plunge back into debt with a promise of an additional $140 billion in debt through 2023 ($757 billion debt). -From the Canadian Taxpayer Federation website The national debt doubled in one year during Covid in 2021. Current national debt under Trudeau Jr. is now $1.3 trillion as of January 14, 2024.

That money comes mostly from Canadians, about 70-75% of it. they are borrowing your savings and paying you interest on it. there is interest because you want compensation for the use of your funds while they use it instead of you. the inflation target could be set at several different levels but in 1989 the reserve bank of New Zealand starting working with that number on the premise that low was good but negative was bad (complex reasons, look up "Irving Fisher"), so they picked 2%, which gave them a bit of wiggle room to cut rates before deflation set in. we could have picked 1% or 3%, little difference but 0% was seen as "playing with deflationary fire". inflation is the average rate at which the purchasing power of currency is decreasing. since that's hard to measure (prices fluctuate), we set up a fairly consistent basket of consumption goods that most households buy every month and we monitor the cost of that. the percent change in the price of that basket is CPI, basically a proxy for inflation that we can get information on. if you actually want to know more about this stuff, have a look at my channel which is mostly videos from my financial history course. i suggest watching in order 3, 4, and 5 which cover debt, banking, and central banking for more details on this stuff

Except the birthrate is declining...

​@@Alex-js5lgthanks feminism

the BoC BORROWED that money from Payments Canada (ie, you bank and your savings). they did not print up $450 billion and you can see as much by simply looking of the BoC's balance sheet. I'm guessing you haven't if you believe they did?

Joe Biden

The chinese

Back in 2008, the Conservative Government ran a budget deficit to stimulate the economy. I remember a lot of people were up and arms because this was perceived as bailout to the automotive industry. In reality, it saved thousands of high paying middle class jobs. It wasn’t a popular decision at the time but a necessity for sure. A few years later, Harper end up balancing the Federal budget.

Those benefits you mentioned are an integral part of having a healthy, harmonious society. If they can't be paid for by the current budget, then more money needs to be clawed back from wealthy corporations/individuals. Allowing the upper echelons of society to hoard resources and live in luxury while huge swaths of society struggle to obtain basic necessities is what leads to violent revolution.

Well it reduces income inequality and brings more money to Canadians to stimulate the economy

@@Alex-js5lgReally? For who? Canada is broken with these liberals and the ridiculous budgets. If taxes dont go up to pay for these programs we cant afford them? Can you in your personal budget spend 50% more a month than you make? No you cant! Government is the same, manageable debt is fine but the liberals have doubled our debt, increased taxes and look at Canada now a banana republic! Wake up!

@@dantedavis4679Free money? Are you clueless? Free money from the government gets its money from taxes? The more free money you want taxes go up and is bad for everyone. Sad people like you cant understand how economics work other than government hand outs

​​@@Alex-js5lgor run the government more efficiently and waste less money in order to fund all those programs..

Weimar? Venezuela? Zimbabwe?

How about just private jobs. Public jobs are paid by private tax payers