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Some financial gurus say this is no big deal. Interest rates are low, and Ottawa can afford it. Of course it can. Unless, like Ontario, it keeps piling up the debt without ever paying it down. Then the carrying costs become significant and start eating into its ability to continue funding its programs. Then, like Ontario, it has to cut costs, and gets into battles with public servants and interest groups that want the spending to keep growing. But that’s down the road … years away. Right now it’s all ice cream.

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People don’t worry about public finances the way they worry about personal finances. They also aren’t upset that the Liberals have broken so many promises. The list was already lengthy when Morneau rose to deliver his budget speech, and by the time he took his seat again several more pledges had been jettisoned. The $10 billion cap on deficits, broken. The balanced budget in four years, broken. The pension promise to veterans, broken. The debt-to-GDP ratio … hanging by the skin of its teeth. But Canadians aren’t concerned. Polls suggest the government is still extremely popular. Because people got all that ice cream.

Politics is about what sells. Just ask Donald Trump. When confronted about the vulgar quality of his presidential campaign – the untruths, the insults, the bigotry, the arrogance – he has a standard reply that goes like this: “I’m winning, right?” The game is about winning, and the Liberals are winning. The details don’t matter.

It’s pointless complaining. We elected these people, and their plans were no secret. The cost will come later, as always.

National Post

KellyMcParland<