Investment bankers make deals with big piles of money they have to raise. Ottawa's investment bankers play with captive taxpayer dollars

If you think Ottawa has just delivered an austerity budget, the smoke and mirrors have got you: it’s simply not true. It’s buried on page 238, but federal program spending, which excludes interest on debt, is forecast to rise by 16 per cent from $490 billion this fiscal year to $568 billion in 2029-30. During the current year alone, the spending increase is a remarkable seven per cent.

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Public debt charges will soar by 43 per cent from $53 billion to $76 billion due to growing indebtedness and higher interest rates. No surprise there. Deficits — $78 billion this year alone — accumulate by a whopping $320 billion over five years. That is quite a legacy we’re leaving young Canadians.

You might think the budget has been cleverly crafted by Keynesian economists who believe big-government deficit spending is the best way to counter slow economic growth. Given all the anxiety over prices, U.S.........

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