{"id":25520,"date":"2017-01-08T18:58:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T23:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=25520"},"modified":"2017-01-08T19:13:21","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T00:13:21","slug":"listen-up-economic-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/listen-up-economic-meltdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Listen Up! Canada is heading for an economic melt down – Opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Hugh Mackenzie
Huntsville Doppler<\/p><\/div>\n

Does the Truth Matter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What happens to a society that doesn\u2019t care about truth anymore? I have a horrible feeling we are almost there. I also wonder if it is a symptom or a tactic.<\/p>\n

Some years ago, well before he entered politics, Donald Trump wrote a book titled, \u201cArt of The Deal\u201d. In it he wrote that if you tell someone a lie three times, they will believe it. In more recent times, he has taken that philosophy to a whole new level. There were so many mistruths and misstatements issued by the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, that fact checking, an important role for the media in a democratic society, became impossible and eventually redundant. In many instances, statements based on sheer whim or fantasy and without a factual basis quickly became accepted as truth. Why? Because Trump has proven that lying works. It got him elected. People heard what they wanted to hear and they didn\u2019t care what tactics were used to achieve the changes they were looking for. After a while, truth is not nearly as important as the immediate outcome.<\/p>\n

<\/broadstreet-zone><\/strong><\/div>\n

We are not immune to this phenomenon in Canada. While it is part of our nature to be skeptical of politicians, we are also somewhat trusting and believe in general that they serve the best interests of our country. But often, we do not want to be confused by facts even though the denial of facts is, in itself, a form of lying.<\/p>\n

Here is what Justin Trudeau told us during the last election campaign and over his first year as Prime Minister. He would create a federal deficit of $10 billion to pay for his campaign promises. We would return to a balanced budget by 2019. The country would be in sound financial shape by the end of his first term in government. It worked. We believed him. It helped get him elected. Once in Government, these projections were changed from a $10 billion deficit to a $25 billion deficit in 2017 alone and no balanced budget for at least six years. Almost no one blinked.<\/p>\n

Now, less than a year later, here is what we hear from the bureaucrats, the professionals, the number crunchers in Canada\u2019s Civil Service. Financially, Canada is heading for a meltdown. According to a Postmedia article by Anthony Furey, they believe that higher program spending (initiated by the Trudeau Government) and lower than projected growth would be \u201csufficient to put at risk the fiscal sustainability of the federal government.\u201d Without changes to current policy, Canada will not see a balanced budget until 2055<\/strong> and by 2050 our debt will have reached $1.55 trillion<\/strong>, double our current debt. Some of us won\u2019t care because we won\u2019t be here by then. But my grandchildren will only be in their thirties in 2050 and I damn well do care.<\/p>\n

It is no wonder that the Federal Government snuck this report out the back door during the Christmas holiday. It is potentially devastating. Their own bureaucrats are projecting the possibility of our financial collapse within the next 35 years. Their own bureaucrats are saying that the Government\u2019s tax and spend policies must change to avoid disaster. It is not something any Government would be happy about sharing.<\/p>\n

The Trudeau Government is still standing by its most recent financial projections which are hugely at odds with the professionals in the civil service. They have yet to demonstrate that their policies must change. I am aware of many new government expenditures, both inside and outside of Canada. but I cannot think of a single projected program that has been cut. What amazes me is that few people seem to care. It seems to me we want to believe the better news, even if it ignores the facts.<\/p>\n

If the concerns of the Government\u2019s Finance Department carry any validity at all, Prime Minister Trudeau and his Cabinet face a tremendous challenge. We do not need to be lulled into a sense of complacency. We do not need the Prime Minister to embark on a good-will tour, complete with the selfies it will produce, to tell the \u201cgrass roots\u201d of our country how much he cares for them. What we need is the Prime Minister in Ottawa, dealing with what could be the largest potential crisis in our history. We need the plain unvarnished truth and we need a realistic plan to deal with it.<\/p>\n

We are, in my view, creeping dangerously into an era of deception. We are seeing it in politics. We are seeing it in the media and we are seeing it on the internet. The truth doesn\u2019t seem to matter that much any more and if we don\u2019t do something about it, one day that is going to come back to bite us on the butt.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our free, twice-weekly newsletter here<\/u>.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/broadstreet-zone>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does the Truth Matter? What happens to a society that doesn\u2019t care about truth anymore? I have a horrible feeling we are almost there. I also wonder if it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26,442,829],"class_list":["post-25520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","tag-breaking","tag-hugh-mackenzie","tag-listen-up"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nListen Up! Canada is heading for an economic melt down - Opinion - Huntsville Doppler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Listen Up! 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