David Dodge, a veteran of the '90s austerity budgets, said he suspects even more cutting will be required in the next two years

You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.

It was mid-December 2003 and I’d just moved from Toronto to Ottawa’s New Edinburgh area to cover Parliament Hill.

Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.

Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

As the gloom of early evening descended, there was a knock at the door, which revealed a clearly overserved senior bureaucrat on his way home from a Christmas party.

“Hi there, I’m your next-door neighbour. My name’s David Dodge,” said the man, with that distinctive husky intonation. At the time, he was governor of the Bank of Canada, having previously served as the deputy minister of finance and health between 1992 and 2001.

Over the next decade, David provided me with an insider’s guide to the ways of Ottawa, most often when his wife Chris sent him out of doors to smoke his pipe.

This newsletter tackles hot topics with boldness, verve and wit. (Subscriber-exclusive edition on Fridays)

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Platformed will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Interested in more newsletters? Browse here.

He has proven to be a lodestar of sound advice and wisdom.

In all that time, David has been pretty consistent on what the Canadian economy needs to prosper. In 2014, after the Great Recession, he was at odds with the former Conservative government for (in his view) sacrificing economic growth, primed by public investment, in order to improve a debt position that was already solid.

In 2015, he endorsed the use of temporary deficits to finance productivity-enhancing infrastructure investment — to the great glee of the Liberal party, which emblazoned his comments all over its election platform.

But in 2021, that rebounded on the Liberals after then finance minister Chrystia Freeland’s extravagant post-pandemic budget.