In the Trudeau years, the Canadian economy grew by 41 per cent, to $3.2 trillion. It grew by just 18 per cent under Trudeau’s predecessor, Stephen Harper, who governed for roughly the same amount of time. Per capita income grew by more than 23 per cent on Trudeau’s watch, to $77,700, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Trudeau’s predecessor managed only a 7.6 per cent increase. In the main, Canadians became wealthier in the Trudeau years. The median net worth of Canadians soared by about 66 per cent between 2016 and 2023, to $519,000, according to Statistics Canada. Trudeau came to office with a mandate to engage in deficit spending, and spend he did on both physical and social infrastructure. Yet Canada’s federal debt to GDP ratio increased only modestly, to almost 50 per cent in 2023, the latest figures available, from 43 per cent in 2015. On that basic measure of fiscal prudence, Canada ranks better than all G7 countries save traditionally frugal Germany’s 45 per cent. In the Trudeau years, America’s debt-to-GDP ratio jumped to 112 per cent from 86 per cent.
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