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What does that mean? A decade of deficits?

The problem for the Liberals is that many of the promises they now say they won’t be able to keep were designed to win an election, not govern a Group of Seven economy.

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They can’t be blamed for growth that has slowed to a crawl because of low global commodity prices – the consensus of private-sector economists for 2016 is 1.2 per cent, down from two per cent in November.

But other wounds have been self-inflicted.

Carolyn Bennett, the indigenous affairs minister, admitted the $40 million allotted for the missing women inquiry “was a placeholder in a platform.” When she talked about the number of missing and murdered women being more than the 1,200 identified by the RCMP, it became clear that she envisages the cost of the inquiry will grow commensurately.

There were any number of “placeholders” in the Liberal platform – such as the cost of resettling Syrian refugees, pegged at $100 million during the election, now estimated at $1.2 billion.

In the last 100 days, Ottawa has been besieged by unsolicited requests for cash, such as Bombardier’s investment pitch, the aerospace equivalent of the promise of West African riches from a Nigerian prince for minimal initial outlay. The Quebec government has offered a $1-billion injection and made it clear it expects the federal government to pony up too.

Marc Garneau, the transport minister, said Ottawa is doing its due diligence, but “wants Canada to carry on its tradition of being a global leader in aviation and aerospace.”