Did Canadians become wealthier under Justin Trudeau?
FACT CHECK: Toronto Star claims Canadians ‘became wealthier’ under Trudeau... | Western Standard | Shaun Polczer, Business Editor:
Janury 7, 2025 - "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had barely submitted his resignation before the Laurentian apologists in the self-proclaimed Centre-of-the-Universe media elites — ie: The Toronto Star — began spouting revisionist proclamations on his 10-year legacy.... Elon Musk infamously called Ontario’s paper of record ‘the Canadian Pravda’ and it’s not hard to understand why.
Specifically, the Steel Town Supernova claimed in an op-ed on Monday that 'there’s still no arguing Canadians became wealthier while he was in power'....
"[N]otwithstanding that 2 million Canadians visited food banks in 2024, according to Food Banks Canada which was up 90% from 2019 and almost triple from 2015 ... Nonetheless, the paper’s business columnist uses a host of economic indicators that presumably show that Canada’s economy is second only to Germany in the pantheon of developed countries....
"For instance, it suggests 'the Canadian economy grew by 41% to $3.1 trillion' in 2023 compared to just 18% under Trudeau’s predecessor, Stephen Harper. But that’s a bit of a sleight of hand depending on currency translation. According to the World Bank, Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023 was just USD$2.14 trillion compared to USD$1.56 trillion when Trudeau came to power in 2015. That works out to 28%....And ... according to the Bank of Canada’s own numbers the Canadian dollar has depreciated more than 17% since 2015 which has the effect of artificially increasing that growth rate. In real percentage terms — which is what economists use — GDP growth last year was flat at 1%, the same as it was in 2015 and about half of the long-term average of 2%....
"Further, The Star claims per Capita income grew 23% under Trudeau’s watch, to $77,700 according to the International Monetary Fund. Again, that’s highly misleading. According to the World Bank, Canada’s per capita GDP was USD$44,388 in 2023 which was ... up only marginally from $43,600 in 2015 — or barely two per cent....
"The Star claims Canada’s federal debt to GDP increased to just 50% in 2023 compared to 43% in 2015, second only to Germany at 43%. The Western Standard’s fact checkers aren’t sure where those numbers came from. According to Hong Kong based CEIC Data, which maintains databases used by academic institutions around the globe, that figure was 66.9% in 2023, which was up from 53% in 2015 based on Statistics Canada figures and numbers from the Finance Department.
"More telling, however, is TOTAL government debt which includes provincial deficits. That number is a staggering 107.5% according to the International Monetary Fund.... Even more troubling is the ration of private debt to GDP, which stands at 269% compared to 258% in 2015 when Trudeau was elected.
"The Star does make some accurate points, [such as] noting the federal government spent $34 billion to build the Trans Mountain pipeline to benefit Alberta — but failed to mention it was more than $25 billion over budget.
"'Trudeau came to office with a mandate to engage in deficit spending, and spend he did,' it said. Indeed, he did. And Canadians will be paying for it long after he’s gone."
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