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Deficits were supposed to disappear but have soared. Jobs and unemployment calculations are suspect and include so-called “part time” and “self-employed jobs.” For instance, before the Oct. 21 election Ottawa claimed that job gains hit 81,000 in August, then another 54,000 in September. Then suddenly, post-election, gains turned into losses of 1,800 in October and 71,000 in November, the biggest decline since the financial meltdown in 2008.

Since 2015, median income has increased only $38 a year under the Trudeau regime, compared with $428 a year increases under Prime Minister Stephen Harper (even though he had to steer through the financial meltdown.) Consumer debt has become the highest in the G7, because Ottawa has not cracked down on illicit capital flows into condos in Toronto and Vancouver, which has helped drive housing prices to excessive levels.

The private sector is embattled. In 2019, the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” report found that it takes 249 days to obtain all the necessary permits to build a new warehouse in Canada — 160 days more than in the United States, the only country Canada really competes against for capital.

And how long does it take to obtain a permit to build needed infrastructure? Ask Kinder Morgan and hundreds of other corporations who have left because impediments turned into all-out obstructions.

Overall, the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” report ranked Canada 23rd out of 190 countries, but this has fallen from fourth in 2006. Meanwhile, New Zealand is first; Singapore second, and the United States ranks sixth.