David Dodge, former deputy finance minister and governor of the Bank of Canada, said before the 2024 federal budget was presented that it would “likely be one of the worst in decades.” He wasn’t wrong. The budget Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland delivered Tuesday fails to address the biggest problem currently facing Canada — our declining standard of living.

It is very irritating to hear the Trudeau government congratulate itself for Canada’s economic growth over the past few years without pointing out that all of it has come from immigration. Factor out population growth and Canada’s real GDP “growth” per capita has been negative 2.5 per cent — a number mentioned nowhere in the budget. Even Carolyn Rogers, deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, recently called our weak economic performance an economic emergency — and bank officials are always extremely careful about their choice of words.