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Jock Finlayson, senior policy advisor at the Business Council of B.C., said he has no quarrel with additional spending in the federal budget to help Canadians navigate the pandemic.
“I think that makes sense,” he said.
But he said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is taking a risk by taking on so much debt for some of its more “aspirational” commitments, such as the child-care program.
“They’re assuming a benign future where we don’t get into any shocks over the next five years, six years and the interest rates remain extremely low,” he said.
“Most business leaders were urging the government not to dedicate a bunch of additional money in so called stimulus because the expectation is the economy is going to recover on its own.”
Finlayson said he expects the provincial government will be more “prudent” in its budget today. “I don’t think the B.C. government has quite the stomach for large endless deficits as Mr. Trudeau and his colleagues.
