Dramatizing the federal deficit is not constructive

This week, as part of a fiscal economic statement, the federal government unveiled a projected deficit of $382 billion.

Not a credit card bill I'd be envious of, but what does this number really mean in context? Conservatives accuse Liberals of leaving insurmountable amounts of debt to their grandchildren, and I have often wondered what exactly they mean by that. I understand that the federal government's balance sheet will be in the red for years to come, but how will our children or grandchildren feel that? If no one from Ottawa told them that the country was running a deficit, would they even notice?

The U.S. has run deficits for the better part of 60 years, and it remains an economic superpower, so maybe deficits are not the end of the world. Depending on the school of economic thought you subscribe to, deficits can be viewed in countless different ways. Among other things, some view them as a long-term way to redistribute wealth, while others see them as a short-term way to boost productivity.

One thing is for certain: they are not always a bad thing.

The Conservative party's narrative suggests that deficits are bad because we eventually see massive increases to inflation, and unwieldy interest rates. If this were true, sure, we'd likely all agree that a large deficit is not something that we want to leave to our children. But, so far, these threats have not become reality. Interest rates are at historic lows despite deficits since 2015. From a layperson's perspective, it seems that so long as interest rates are manageable, deficits are not something we need to be scared of.

In October, the International Monetary Fund told us that our net debt-to-gdp ratio was the lowest in the G7. Why have fiscal room in the first place if you were not planning to use it? And, when would you consider using it, if not during an unpreceded pandemic that has claimed over 12,000 Canadian lives?

Personally, I am in favour of government spending to support our economy and those who have been the most affected by this pandemic. I think most of us would be furious if we had a federal government sitting on its hands and not helping Canadians out of fear of seeing red numbers on their bank statements. What's the sense of a balanced budget if you have an otherwise depleted economy?

The Conservatives are anything but consistent in their defence of their grandchildren. I think leaving deficits to grandchildren (or anyone for that matter) — I do not know why we must always speak of fictitious children — is undesirable. But, so is leaving the planet two degrees Celsius warmer than when you found it.

If the Conservatives really cared about their grandchildren, they would not be quibbling over whether we should give financial aid to the single mom whose retail employer was forced to close. They would instead be trying to assist in making the COVID-19 recovery a green and sustainable effort.

Now, more than ever, we need opposition parties to rally together. In particular with the federal Conservatives, the tone they take can influence what we see the Conservative premiers in various provinces doing. We need them to focus less on partisan jabs and more on actually trying to help the country through the economic recovery. This is the issue, and every elected official should be pulling in the same direction to deliver a comprehensive response.