Matthew Lau: Trudeau offers more ridiculous nonsense on the economy

financialpost.com:

Last week the federal government announced a $4.7-billion tax expenditure, along with a two-month sales tax change that will create severe administrative and logistical nightmares for businesses, and whose effect on federal revenue the government seems to have badly miscalculated. According to economist Trevor Tombe, it will likely cost around $3.0 billion, versus the $1.6 billion the government estimates. Ottawa branded this $7.7-billion package an affordability measure and tax “holiday.” It is nothing of the kind. It is ridiculous nonsense, which this government delivers on a regular basis and is what Canadians really need a holiday from.

If I’m not mistaken, this means the feds made a roughly $1.4 billion (ish) mistake in their costing of the GST holiday.

They estimated $1.6 billion in foregone GST revenues (~3% of total). For the HST provinces, the compensation they’re entitled to in the tax coordination… https://t.co/tcwoLGXgNx

Alas, no such holiday is forthcoming. The very next day Justin Trudeau proclaimed — at yet another spending announcement — “We’re focused on Canadians. Let the bankers worry about the economy.” Just what will happen to the well-being of the Canadians on whom he is supposedly focused if the economy continues to tank, Trudeau did not say. And the economy tanking — which harms Canadians, not just bankers.

Here is a longer clip of Trudeau saying let the bankers worry about the economy. This answer is nonsense. pic.twitter.com/uVuwLGjhh8

Later this week, Statistics Canada will release third-quarter GDP numbers that almost certainly will show real GDP per capita has declined yet again. Since Trudeau took office through to the second quarter of 2024, which is very close to one full decade, real