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The worry when the Trudeau Liberals took office was that they couldn’t operate a spoon — that a two-house paper route would be beyond their organizational abilities.

Early signs were not encouraging: spending ballooned, deficits appeared to be running amok.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or John Ivison: Since there's no fiscal meltdown in sight, the Liberals will just keep on spending Back to video

Keep calm and carry on, the Liberals said, “investments” in infrastructure and the new child benefit would spark economic growth. In effect, the budget would balance itself.

Credit then where it may or may not be due. While we are a long way from a balanced budget, fiscal meltdown also looks to be a remote prospect.

The government released its fall economic statement Tuesday and the books are looking more rosy than they have at any point since the first Liberal budget. Economic growth is likely to reduce deficits by a cumulative $32 billion over the next five years.

In the current fiscal year, the deficit has fallen from the $28.5 billion (with a $3 billion risk cushion) projected in the 2017 budget to $19.9 billion (with a $1.5 billion adjustment for risk).