Those were the days, my friends

of anyone who has taken a close look at Canada’s competitiveness, compared to the United States.

“At this stage of the cycle it was more important to marshal resources and prepare for the heavy weather that’s coming in. But that wasn’t the priority,” said Porter.

The Liberals have been sleepwalking their way toward structural deficits that will be hard to reverse, once the bad times bite — such as the decision to index-link the $23-billion Canada Child Benefit.

The government has learned the lesson that it can win on the left and so presents only the fig leaf of prudence in the form of “the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7.” (A claim that is only true if you discount provincial debt.)

But the budget reveals the government is planning to add a further $78 billion of federal debt in the next five years. At the moment, around 8 cents of every dollar of revenue is used for debt repayment (compared with 38 cents in 1990), but that number is set to rise in tandem with interest rates — the budget estimates each percentage point increase in the rate will cost an extra $2.8 billion within five years.

The bottom line is that this budget was crafted at the high point of economic conditions in Canada, but at a time when its authors were aware that economic growth was already slowing; that there is profound uncertainty over NAFTA; that debt costs are due to rise; and that U.S. tax reform has removed Canada’s advantage on corporate rates.

Morneau and his prime minister have had almost nothing to say on any of these subjects.

Yet, rather than using the re-profiling of some infrastructure funds and lower EI payments to reduce the deficit, the money was earmarked for crassly partisan initiatives like $300 million on official languages programs that play well in marginal ridings with large francophone populations outside Quebec.

The Liberals may think they can win on the left, as long as they pay lip service to fiscal prudence. But, as the deluge of bad news continues, this looks increasingly like an irresponsible budget that should be condemned by reasonable voters of all political stripes.