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Adjusted for 2019 dollars, the Liberals are even outspending Canadian governments that had to contend with world wars and global recessions.

At the same time, Canada’s aging population will put ever more strain on public finances in coming years, as more grey-haired boomers enter retirement. Benefits to the elderly are expected to almost double in the next ten years from $56 billion today to $99 billion.

“We have this demographic freight train that is barrelling down the tracks at us, and we had better prepare before it hits us with the kind of fiscal restraint that it’s going to force on Canadians,” Clemens said.

Wrangling over spending and an aging population comes as the Trudeau government continues to run deficits to fund large campaign promises, including billions for infrastructure and social programs. In his recent economic update, Finance Minister Bill Morneau posted an updated deficit of $26.6 billion, higher than previous estimates.

The financial demands of an older population will make it harder for governments to fund key growth priorities like education and skills development

Trudeau’s $9,066 per-person spending surpasses the previous high of $8,811 set in 2009 under the Harper government, which ramped up fiscal stimulus spending in response to a global recession. Harper ran a series of austerity budgets in the later years of his tenure, but never returned spending to the levels he inherited at the beginning of his mandate.

Other moments of increased spending occurred during the First and Second world wars, under Robert Borden and William Lyon Mackenzie King, respectively. Spending under King inflated wildly to nearly $8,000 per person, even when adjusted for inflation, as a way to fund Canada’s war efforts, but was reduced back to around $2,000 per person after the war ended.