6.26.2009

The Deficit

THE LIE
On June 25, 2009, Stephen Harper was interviewed by CTV’s Steve Murphy who asked about the ballooning deficit projections for 2009, now estimated at $50 billion. “In relative terms our deficit is a quarter of the deficit in the US, the deficit in Great Britain, half the deficit in Europe.”
Tape of the interview

THE TRUTH
According to the OECD Economic Outlook Report dated June 2009, deficit as a proportion of GDP for Canada will be 4.8%. For the other nations Harper mentions and other European G7 countries, the projections are: US, 10.2%; UK, 12.8%; France, 6.7%; Germany, 3.7%; Italy, 5.3%. While Harper is correct that we are in better shape than the US and UK, we do not have one-quarter of their deficit, and we are at about the same level as other European peers.

The OECD report

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