Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland pose for a photo before the tabling of the Fall Economic Statement in the House of Commons on Nov. 3, 2022.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Jake Fuss and Grady Munro are fiscal policy analysts at the Fraser Institute.

On Monday, after weeks of turmoil and speculation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canadians he will resign after the Liberal Party chooses a new leader. There will be much talk about his legacy, but the modern Trudeau era was distinguished by, among other things, unprecedented levels of government spending.

The numbers don’t lie.

For example, from 2018 to 2023, the Trudeau government recorded the six highest levels of spending (on a per-person basis, after adjusting for inflation) in Canadian history (even after excluding emergency spending during the pandemic) – higher than during the Great Depression, both world wars and the height of the global financial crisis in 2008-09.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump talks of using ‘economic force’ to annex Canada

Unsurprisingly, the government was unable to balance the budget during........

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