What Could Go Wrong?

Does one remember all of those whacky promises the decidedly unprepared government made?

Well ... :

The federal government is shutting the doors to all of its 317 Service Canada Centres – where people can apply in person for employment insurance, Old Age Security, pension benefits and passports – on Friday after employees en masse refused to work.

The government bent to pressure Thursday evening from the Canadian Employment and Immigration Union, which represents 17,000 Service Canada employees, including 3,360 who staff the centres.

Public servants felt "unsafe".


Who is going to issue that $2,000 per unemployed person now?


In all of this, no one has asked where this money is coming from.

It's not like we're generating money or even having saved it:

One of the many things we’ve learned from the pandemic crisis is the importance of saving for a rainy day. Canada has failed for many years to do so. Now it’s pouring outside, and both governments and individuals will struggle to cope.

For a decade and more, Canadians with means have been spending as if there were no tomorrow. They spent on expensive houses, taking out giant mortgages. They spent on nice cars, using long-term loans and leases to make the payments feel painless. They spent on vacations and renovations and big-screen TVs.

Banks egged them on, offering giant lines of credit to anyone lucky enough to own a house. With interest rates at historic lows, consumers binged on borrowed money. Household debt as a percentage of disposable income climbed and climbed. What happens now to all the people who have been thrown out of work and have bills to pay and interest payments to make?

(Sidebar: hhmm-hhmm.)

 

Governments have been even more profligate. The biggest provincial government, Ontario’s, managed the remarkable feat of doubling its debt in the course of a decade. Alberta spent its oil money on highways and hospitals and hockey rinks instead of putting it aside, Norway style, for the future. With oil prices crashing, it finds itself in deep trouble. So does Newfoundland and Labrador, its plight worsened by the Muskrat Falls white elephant.

(Sidebar: well, it's not like the government wants the oil industry to succeed. Pick an example. There are plenty to choose from.)

The federal government went on a spree of its own. Elected on a solemn pledge to balance the budget by the time the next election rolled around, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals instead kept ramping up spending, taking advantage of a booming economy to “invest in the future” rather than tackle the deficit or pay down the debt, much less put aside money for an emergency. They even gave Canadians a nice tax cut last year, slicing $6-billion from Ottawa’s annual revenue. ...

Now we face an awful reckoning. The tomorrow that would never come is here. For years, governments were accused of putting the future of our children and grandchildren in jeopardy by piling up debt. It turns out the danger was much closer. It is we, the current generation, who are at risk.

It will cost many billions to get us through this unprecedented crisis. The $82-billion federal package approved on Wednesday is only the beginning. With no rainy-day fund to speak of, Ottawa and the provinces will need to borrow the money, recording deficits that are bound to dwarf those of the last recession.

(Sidebar: you're telling me.)

Now is not the time to complain about big government. Moments like this are what governments are for, which is why we want them to have deep pockets and small debts. The Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, insists we have the “fiscal firepower” for the job. Canada is still a wealthy country, after all.

(Sidebar: yeah, did you forget that we have NO money and Justin's Beer Hall Putsch?)

 

But once this necessary binge is over, let’s promise ourselves not to go on another one when things get back to normal. Let’s instead dedicate ourselves to living within our means, wiping out our deficits, reducing our debts and saving for the next rainy day.

Also:

The Liberal government is set to run a $112.7-billion deficit in 2021 as it seeks to combat the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report, with the Canadian economy poised to take a stomach-churning plunge later this year.

**

The coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe could send the Canadian unemployment rate soaring to 15 per cent by the end of the year, a new forecast by the parliamentary budget watchdog suggests.

**

Air travel has fallen as much as ninety percent, the Canada Border Services Agency said yesterday. “We are seeing a significant decrease day by day,” said an executive.

What do you need more money for? There are no trains running to stop:

Indigenous leaders from across Canada say they are worried supports promised by the federal government to help First Nations, Inuit and Metis deal with the fallout of COVID-19 might not do enough to prevent the most vulnerable people from falling through the cracks.

The Assembly of First Nations declared a state of emergency for its First Nations this week, saying the money Ottawa has committed to date will not go far enough to meet the unique needs of Indigenous populations facing this pandemic.