[sags]

Trudeau decided the Canadian delegation should include the partners the government would have to work with regarding our climate change policy.

Perhaps the cost will be a mistake..........or perhaps not. Time will tell if policy is more easily developed with partners, or would have been better served by top down government edicts.

 

[RBull]

Sags, just my opinion but posting up our debt to GDP as being lower than other dangerously and ridiculously indebted countries doesn't do a lot to convince me it's fine for us spend our way to prosperity with enormous deficits and a growing debt. And Provincial debt has to be considered too. Can anyone show this works?

If the public spent and borrowed the way our governments do - (although many certainly seem to be trying), I'm not sure what would be left of the country. Governments NEVER plan to pay back principle. This is the way it is, but it seems wrong and where does it end? Maybe it would be beneficial to enact laws to ensure all deficit money must be paid off before the term of the government/election and tell people exactly what it will cost them each year in extra taxes.

 

[fraser]

Actually Canada did not send all those people. The Provinces were invited and they decided who to send. That is why the numbers are so high. My understanding is that the Provincials paid their own freight.

I am very happy to have a Liberal Gvoernment. Not because it is Liberal but because I strongly believe that more than 10 years in power corrupts most Governments and makes them take us luckless taxpayers for granted. I was happier to see the back of Harper than I was to see the Liberal win.

I was sitting in Calgary listening to Rona Ambrose go on about the Energy East Pipeline. Strange, she never said a peep about it during the last few years when she was in Cabinet.
Harper would not let her...the duct tape was firmly over her mouth. I just about choked when I heard her spouting off. ZERO credibility.

 

[andrewf]

Remember the world recession? Remember how Liberals were screaming that the government should spend more money faster?

Looking at numbers, Harper's government increased debt by 12% to 542 billion and left a balanced budget which isn't bad compared to the rest of the developed world. What's more, debt growth was same as GDP growth, so the level of debt as proportion of the economy has not changed. Paul Martin/Chretien left a debt of 482 billion; almost unchanged from what they inherited which is a good performance. Mulroney increased debt by 67%; not great.

The one who stands out is Trudeau - the daddy. He increased debt by a whopping 740%. Future generations had to pay for his "generosity". Early indications for Trudeau-the-son are not so good.

Canada's federal debt went from $450 billion to $600 billion under the CPC government, which is a ~33% rise.

 

[mordko]

Canada's federal debt went from $450 billion to $600 billion under the CPC government, which is a ~33% rise.

Debt went up from 481.5 bn to 541.9 bn. 12.6 pc. https://www.taxpayer.com/media/CoverStory24-27WEB.pdf

 

[GoldStone]

Don't worry, be happy, budgets will balance themselves.

 

[sags]

Canada gets it's mojo back..........

In the months since his election, Mr. Trudeau, 44, the 6-foot-2 self-described feminist, who has been a television actor, snowboarding instructor and amateur boxer, has assumed the role of world leader with a heart. In December, to the delight of the Twitterati, he welcomed a planeload of Syrian refugees with the phrase “You’re safe at home now,” while helping them into warm coats.

Vogue magazine wasted no time anointing Mr. Trudeau the “New Young Face of Canadian Politics,” noting that “the new prime minister is dashing in his blue suit and jaunty brown shoes.” Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post could not resist running a 2006 photo of a louche Mr. Trudeau, in torn bluejeans and an unbuttoned black chemise, with the headline “Hunky Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Is the JFK Jr. of Canada.”

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/15/style/canada-justin-trudeau-cool.html?_r=0

 

[fatcat]

Canada gets it's mojo back..........

In the months since his election, Mr. Trudeau, 44, the 6-foot-2 self-described feminist, who has been a television actor, snowboarding instructor and amateur boxer, has assumed the role of world leader with a heart. In December, to the delight of the Twitterati, he welcomed a planeload of Syrian refugees with the phrase “You’re safe at home now,” while helping them into warm coats.

Vogue magazine wasted no time anointing Mr. Trudeau the “New Young Face of Canadian Politics,” noting that “the new prime minister is dashing in his blue suit and jaunty brown shoes.” Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post could not resist running a 2006 photo of a louche Mr. Trudeau, in torn bluejeans and an unbuttoned black chemise, with the headline “. Hunky Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Is the JFK Jr. of Canada.”o

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/15/style/canada-justin-trudeau-cool.html?_r=0

the key words in the story being: "has assumed the role of world leader" ...

 

[james4beach]

How did the Harper Conservatives manage to increase the federal debt during boom years and strong commodity prices?

Didn't corporate taxes bring in more than enough revenue?

 

[fraser]

My point was that people seem to assume that Liberals run deficits and Tories balance the budget. This is just not so.

Harper ran deficits for ten of his eleven years. The only one he balanced was the first one that was actually inherited from the previous Government.

In some years Harper was running deficits in boom commodity years because like so many other politicians of all stripes he was buying votes by reducing taxes. They all do it.

 

[Woz]

Debt went up from 481.5 bn to 541.9 bn. 12.6 pc. https://www.taxpayer.com/media/CoverStory24-27WEB.pdf

The net debt in 2014/15 is $612.3B, an increase of 27%. That $541.9B number you quote is from a 2009 report which showed the forecasted debt in 2014. It looks like they underestimated.

Source:
http://www.fin.gc.ca/afr-rfa/2015/report-rapport-eng.asp#toc5 (Table 8)

Also from the same source you quoted, but more up to date (they forecasted $618.9B in 2014/15 so it looks like they over estimated):
http://www.taxpayer.com/media/Total Accumulated Deficit - Federal.pdf

 

[Barwelle]

Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post could not resist running a 2006 photo of a louche Mr. Trudeau, in torn bluejeans and an unbuttoned black chemise, with the headline “Hunky Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Is the JFK Jr. of Canada.”[/I]

In case anybody else can't resist wanting to see the picture in question...

(It's a link, couldn't figure out how to imbed the image in a post)

 

[Woz]

In case anybody else can't resist wanting to see the picture in question...

(It's a link, couldn't figure out how to imbed the image in a post)

Oh man, that's funny. I also like his "party trick" of pretending to fall down the stairs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRnwK01n904

 

[mordko]

The net debt in 2014/15 is $612.3B, an increase of 27%. That $541.9B number you quote is from a 2009 report which showed the forecasted debt in 2014. It looks like they underestimated.

Source:
http://www.fin.gc.ca/afr-rfa/2015/report-rapport-eng.asp#toc5 (Table 8)

Also from the same source you quoted, but more up to date (they forecasted $618.9B in 2014/15 so it looks like they over estimated):
http://www.taxpayer.com/media/Total Accumulated Deficit - Federal.pdf

Good point, thanks.

 

[humble_pie]

In case anybody else can't resist wanting to see the picture in question...

(It's a link, couldn't figure out how to imbed the image in a post)

at least it's not a selfie ...

.

 

[bariutt]

More waste characterizes Trudeau’s first month in office

Prime Minister Trudeau has wasted no time in quickly dolling out public funds in an extremely wasteful manner. In just over a month, Canada’s new Prime Minister has enacted the following policies that blatantly disregard the value of hard earned tax dollars:

A $2.65 Billion cheque for aid to developing nations to combat climate change
A $13 Million cheque for Vietnamese farmers
A $15 Million cheque for job training in Africa
A $14.25 Million cheque for infrastructure in Indonesia
In his first month in office, Prime Minister Trudeau has sent over $3 Billion of your tax dollars overseas through new foreign aid
promises.

THE INTERESTING NOTE IS THAT WE WILL HAVE TO BORROW THIS MONEY WHICH ADDS TO OUR DEFICIT AND DEBT. CANADIANS WILL PAY INTEREST ON THIS DEBT FOR DECADES TO FOLLOW.

 

[Hawkdog]

More waste characterizes Trudeau’s first month in office

Prime Minister Trudeau has wasted no time in quickly dolling out public funds in an extremely wasteful manner. In just over a month, Canada’s new Prime Minister has enacted the following policies that blatantly disregard the value of hard earned tax dollars:

A $2.65 Billion cheque for aid to developing nations to combat climate change
A $13 Million cheque for Vietnamese farmers
A $15 Million cheque for job training in Africa
A $14.25 Million cheque for infrastructure in Indonesia
In his first month in office, Prime Minister Trudeau has sent over $3 Billion of your tax dollars overseas through new foreign aid
promises.

THE INTERESTING NOTE IS THAT WE WILL HAVE TO BORROW THIS MONEY WHICH ADDS TO OUR DEFICIT AND DEBT. CANADIANS WILL PAY INTEREST ON THIS DEBT FOR DECADES TO FOLLOW.

What is wasteful about helping the poor? I am all for this. Time to clean up Canada's tarnished image.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1266433/canada-cuts-aid-as-other-nations-push-assistance-to-all-time-high/

 

[donald]

Trudeau should be on one life to live or something lol
Why did he make it so tough on himself
Anybody calling salt and pepper hair in 4 yrs?haha

 

[Rusty O'Toole]

Let him help the poor with his own money. To give away Canada's money and take the credit himself is beyond hypocrisy. Especially when Canadians are losing their jobs, losing their homes and suffering the high cost of the depreciating loony.

He is NOT the Prime Minister of Africa, Viet Nam or Indonesia. He is the Prime Minister of Canada. His job is to work for Canada not throw our money away to feed his own ego.

 

[mordko]

What is wasteful about helping the poor? I am all for this. Time to clean up Canada's tarnished image.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1266433/canada-cuts-aid-as-other-nations-push-assistance-to-all-time-high/

Canada's image is only tarnished among dictators and terrorists. Neither Vietnam nor Indonesia are among the poorest countries in the world.