Large numbers and the destruction of policy debate in Canada: Ken Coates in National Newswatch – MLI

February 5, 2025

Over the last decade, wild increases in government spending have effectively immunized Canadians to the significance of large numbers.

The process started years ago, in an all-party and all-government frenzy of public spending. It expanded rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, with governments rushing money out the door in what we now know was an ill-co-ordinated and largely unplanned effort to anticipate the economic dislocation of that disruptive and uncertain time.

Blindness to large numbers has become commonplace in many aspects of Canadian life. When a handful of Taylor Swift concerts adds hundreds of millions of dollars to metropolitan economies, when baseball star Juan Soto signed a $765-million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets, and when Toronto Blue Jays fans have earnest discussions about how many hundreds of millions to commit to pending free agent Vladimir Guerrero Jr., it is clear Canada has entered an age of very large numbers.

Billion-dollar promises and agreements have been thrown around with reckless abandon. In recent years, the federal government added expensive programs for child-care, dental care, pharmacare, housing, transit projects, and other major initiatives.

Read More: https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/large-numbers-and-the-destruction-of-policy-debate-in-canada-ken-coates-in-national-newswatch/