Justin Trudeau & His Economic Record – Freedom Philosophy

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It would be a difficult task to point to Trudeau’s list of accomplishments since taking office.

He campaigned on electoral reform, which he quickly abandoned for less than concrete reasons. He campaigned on environmentalism, but then quickly locked in subsidies for fossil fuel companies while having a disastrous rollout of a carbon tax. He campaigned on restoring Canada’s international prestige, but with his failures on NAFTA, his debacle with the Saudis and his trip to India, it’s becoming clear that Canada’s prestige hasn’t improved. Even his pot legislation is barely moving the barometer in the direction he campaigned on.

The centerpiece to his 2019 campaign will be jobs. He brought about several ambitious infrastructure programs. He increased the federal budget by $40 billion. His child benefit should ease finances for families. He claims he’s reduced taxes in the middle class. And today, there are 600,000 more jobs in Canada than there was when he took office.

Trudeau has a common style: He cites a fact, and then repetitiously communicates it to Canadians. During the 2015 campaign, his message was that Stephen Harper had the worst jobs creation record since R.B. Bennett. This fact was meme’d, it was repeated in all of his speeches, and in every debate. It’s a remarkably superficial fact, given that Harper had to deal with the worst global recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, which coincidentally was the time of R.B. Bennett’s government.

Let’s look at Trudeau’s own jobs creation record.

Superficially, one can point to a 600,000 increase in jobs. However, there has also been a 500,000 increase in the labour force. This is to say that Trudeau has spent an additional $40 billion only to improve the situation by 100,000 jobs. He’s spending $400,000 per job, which is an atrocious record. The situation is worsened by the fact that 90,000 jobs were created in Alberta after the rise in oil price (largely stimulated by sanctions on Iran, which Trudeau opposed).

Conceivably, Trudeau has only created 10,000 new jobs at a cost of $40 billion. His actual record on job growth is indicative of extreme mismanagement.

He has touted Canada’s child benefit as a hallmark of his success. Families are receiving hundreds of dollars to deal with the cost of childcare. But this is wholly irrelevant in the light of rising costs of living.

Rising power bills being further accelerated by carbon taxes from province-to-province, rising grocery bills being further accelerated by supply management, rising rental costs being further accelerated by Trudeau’s mortgage regulations, are all a stark reminder that families aren’t better off under Trudeau.

Giving an individual a $200 monthly asset and $500 in additional monthly liabilities is hardly a braggadocios point.

In this line of thought, his claim of reducing taxes on the middle class is particularly suspect.

He reduced tax rates on Canadians earning over $45,000, while also eliminating child fitness and arts tax credits, textbook deductions, and he’s increased CPP contributions.

Canadians earning between $45,000-$93,000 are seeing their tax burden rise rather than decrease, and Canadians earning less than $45,000 are being slaughtered by the tax burden.

Trudeau hasn’t even come close to fulfilling his promise on this issue.

Trudeau has no bragging points when it comes to the economy. The centerpiece of his campaign doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. He has devastated the economy. Our bills go up as does Trudeau’s rhetoric. Trudeau is cotton candy that has the appearance of substance but when placed in hot water, it evaporates.

He has failed Canadians and in turn, Canadians should fail him in the next election.

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Brandon Kirby

Brandon Kirby has a philosophy degree from the University of New Brunswick and is a current MBA candidate finishing his thesis. He is an AML officer specializing in hedge funds in the Cayman Islands, owns a real estate company in Canada, and has been in the financial industry since 2004. He is the director of Being Libertarian - Canada and the president of the Libertarian Party of Canada.

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