But when Oliver goes on about the danger of debt, as he did Thursday, he’s stepping through the looking glass.
He warned voters of Opposition plans for “a debt burden our children should not bear.”
He bragged Canada’s debt is half that of the Group of Seven average, adding, “There’s a moral issue here, because to the extent we pile on more debt, we’re basically asking our children and grandchildren to pay for our expenditures.”
I thought: Oliver is being kind of tough on his boss here, isn’t he?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has added $122-billion to the federal debt since he took office. If Canada has a solid debt to gross domestic product ratio, it is not because of Harper, but because of his predecessors Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, who added only $33-billion in debt from 1993 to 2006.
The Tories were right to borrow to stimulate the economy during the recession, but they should blush when they brag about their record as debt fighters. They repeatedly missed their targets and drove us deeper into debt than necessary, slashing the goods and sales tax and offering boutique tax cuts that cluttered up the tax system without making it fairer or boosting productivity.
It’s the “starve the beast” technique, invented by Ronald Reagan. The idea is you cut taxes, go into debt, then cut spending, which makes it hard for your left-leaning opponents to tax and spend. It’s fair ball, but Canadians are suckers if they let themselves be convinced by millions of dollars in government advertising and endlessly repeated talking points the Tories are the anti-debt party.
The opposition has the opportunity in the next six months to portray the Tories as economic bunglers.
You can certainly make the argument.
Harper made big bets on oil, which is now selling for just $50 a barrel. Unemployment is up. The loonie is worth US80¢. The Bank of Canada governor says the first quarter of 2015 will be “atrocious.” Some economists think we are facing a dangerous housing bubble.
The PM has presided over a (likely inevitable) collapse in central Canadian manufacturing, but he spent all his political capital chasing pipeline projects that haven’t happened.
He’s now pushing to balance the budget for political reasons, when we probably would be better off with a little bit of debt-financed stimulus.
