Canada's fiscal deficit for the first half of the current fiscal year (April-September) came in at C$ 5.9 billion. That marks a sharp reduction from the $ 7.8 billion deficit posted in the same period last year, and suggests that the deficit for the full year could fall well short of the budget projection of just under $20 billion.
Remarkably, among the major news outlets only the Toronto Globe and Mail considers these strong numbers worth reporting online. It will be interesting to see if space for the story can be found in the weekend print editions. Doubtful, I'd say: advertisements for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales have made it all but impossible to find any editorial content in the papers over the past week or so.
That's a pity, because there seems to be a lesson in these numbers that's worth hearing, and not only here in Canada. When the Trudeau government announced its first budget a couple of years ago, featuring a return to stimulative deficit financing, it was roundly castigated in the media for wild irresponsibility. Today's data seem to suggest, not for the first time, that stimulating economic growth is a sure-fire way to keep fiscal pressures under control. And as George Osborne and now Philip Hammond over in the UK could tell you, austerity for austerity's sake produces neither a stronger economy nor a balanced budget.
This is not to give Trudeau and his Finance Minister Bill Morneau a free pass. If the economy slows in the second half of the fiscal year, as most forecasters expect, the deficit for the full year may well end up much closer to the budgeted figure than today's partial data seem to suggest. Longer term, it is regrettable that the Government has no real plan for bringing the budget closer to balance. Still, good news is good news -- except, apparently, when it gets in the way of the advertising copy.
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