Opinion: Hey CBC and CTV, please ask about the costs of Trudeau’s new social programs

financialpost.com:

By Lydia Miljan

Parliament is back in session, with fireworks in the Commons over the New Democratic Party’s continued support for the Trudeau government. But instead of focusing on (often-contrived) political drama, the media would better serve Canadians if it critically evaluated government policy, with a keen eye on government finances and taxpayer money.

For example, the government will soon table its fall fiscal update, which presents the state of its finances. That will occasion the first “confidence” motion directly related to money in the fall session of Parliament, providing another opportunity for the opposition NDP and Bloc Québécois to withdraw their support for the government and trigger an election.

Unfortunately, the media is more likely to delve deeply into palace intrigue than to ask tough questions about the government’s fiscal policy, which includes unprecedented spending and massive deficits and debt. Moreover, on those relatively rare occasions when reporters do focus on the substance of policy proposals, they often lean on the government’s talking points rather than on any critical evaluation of how to pay for new programs.

In a new study published by the Fraser Institute, I analyze Trudeau government press releases about three new major social programs — child care, dental care and pharmacare — and the subsequent coverage by the CBC and CTV from Feb. 1, 2021, to May 30 of this year.

Not surprisingly, the government press releases talked about how these programs would help Canadians but downplayed any information regarding their budget or fiscal implications or how the government would fund these programs. In terms of word count, less than one per cent of the government’s press releases mentioned