Good article. I am starting to suspect that a large number, possibly the majority of Canadian's have no political party that truly represents them. Unfortunately I find myself in that number, and really wonder what I will do next election.
I am one of those voters without a home. I am in that 'Blue Liberal/Red Tory' band. I am very concerned with lagging productivity as that has such a huge downstream impact on all public policy; as the economy fails to meaningfully grow, we're left arguing about how to redistribute (or not) the same size pie.
While parties vie for 'engaged' voters by promising to fix issues that they really have limited ability to deliver on, their constituencies are getting smaller and more partisan. Meanwhile, they seem to be actively encouraging people like me to get disengaged.
I suspect -- and hope -- that some smart party (even if it's a new party) will see that gap and fill it. I don't know a lot of actual partisans beyond the digital realm; I suspect there are a lot of fairly disengaged, discouraged people who might vote for a party that stops yelling, promises things they can actually deliver (then does) and generally focused on "peace, order and good government". But, maybe I'm dreaming.
FWIW, though, I do think that Del Duca was an uninspiring candidate and his platform seemed full of the kind of gimmicks that made it hard for voters like me to take him seriously.
Tony - I am also in the Blue Liberal/Red Tory band, which is probably why I always enjoy your comments so much! During the convoy protests, all I could think was, “Can we just put Michael Chong in charge for a while?” I also really admired Joel Lightbound’s courage at that time, and would love to see someone like him lead the Liberals. I still think there are lots of great people in both parties, but what I think is “great” probably wouldn’t win an election.
I suspect there are more of us than pundits think. But, I also see a lot of people like me getting discouraged by electoral politics -- seeing people regularly behave in a way that would be considered wildly unprofessional for most of us. I vote; but I suspect those like us who aren't as politically engaged are starting to tune out, which is a problem: if only the partisans are left, we'll get poor governance.
I’m one of the many who did not vote in the Ontario election. I feel badly about it, but I had a last-minute opportunity to go out of town for a week, and it was too late to vote early. I could have cut my trip short to come back to vote, but I chose to put my own needs and happiness above my civic duty. Normally I vote early just in case, but this time I still didn’t know who I was going to vote for and the day just kind of crept up on me. I would welcome an online voting option for these situations and think it would make a big difference for turnout.
Isn't this the band Charest is reaching out to, those orphaned by current partisanship?
Although I am skeptical of red-toryism, I probably fit this band as well. As much as I love politics it feels weird feeling like I'd be more at home in the progressive-conservative party my grandparents voted for in the '60s than what ever we have today.
One elderly gentleman from the church where I grew would fit this band as well. For him the green party was a possible solution. While I think the green party does try to do this, for some reason they just don't jive. Any guesses for why?
Also, I'd suggest this trend goes back a couple of years. The conversation with the gentleman I refer to took place like 20 years ago. I'm sure there are always people disaffected. But it seems to me you are describing a particular trend.
"It doesn’t think much about economics or fiscal policy." One of the most frightening ideas for any political party, for shouldn't voter income be one of a government's highest priorities?
I wish I had an argument for any of this, but sadly can't find any. I believe the economic situation is now so bad that governments will do anything to avoid having to deal with it. Its cause is a lack of vision, a quest for power, and the reality that you can no longer get elected by telling the truth. The vacuum of leadership at all levels is slowly killing Canada.
I think the disappearance of the Business Liberals is part of a bigger problem where politicians have neglected the basic functions of government in favor of chasing exciting ideas. Our federal Liberal government wants to pursue universal childcare, but hasn't demonstrated the basic competence to issue passports and staff airport security. City councils debate decarbonization and climate change policy, but won't issue building permits in a timely fashion or provide oversight to police forces to deal with public safety concerns. People and politicians clamoring for more government involvement in society and the economy seem oblivious to the fact that government isn't doing particularly well at managing its baseline functions. Start getting that right, and maybe people will be more interested in letting you explore the next big sky idea.
Exactly. City permitting delayed a modest home renovation we did by 18 months. At one point I waited 4 months during renovations for a set of stairs to our basement to get approved. Our neighbourhood outdoor pool was wrecked by a storm in the fall - but they aren't getting around to fixing it this summer. However they have increased property taxes for a climate change fund. Progressive leaders seem endlessly distracted trying to solve problems that are either intractable (poverty) or that arguably don't exist (institutional racism due to police shootings in another country). When I think about the Federal Liberals - despite the profligate spending - the only thing they appear to have achieved is to legalize cannabis.
Excellent article & comments. Wynne failed to take care of the revenue side of the ledger .Ford ( although not my favorite person ) is doing that , thereby strengthening the economy now & for the future . This activity directly improves socioeconomic balance , a root cause of so many problems.
I'll believe it when I see it. All that appears to be coming is a $10 billion highway that accomplishes nothing, and free reign to do whatever he wants.
Firstly 57% of voters allowed free reign. Secondly ,although a fiscal conservative, I agree with you, the 413 concept is 100% wrong.🤔 There is a lot going on in Ontario as far as job growth goes , for the middle class. The really wealthy knocked the middle class flying over the last 10 years in North America. Pls don't tell me your ok with Wynne's / Trudeau’s economics !
Oh no, I'm not. But I would have liked to see some creative ideas...like 50% off nursing school tuition for the next 5 years....or anything that looks like a vision. The budget suggested he ate Kathleen Wynne, and felt the urge to spend the same way. But I don't trust him at all and will judge by his actions more than his words. I used to be an optimist.....
In Nova Scotia I had the option of voting for Liberals or Progressive Conservatives. Federally that option has disappeared. Yes - Liberals are more left now. But look at the right! Endless debate about who supported the convoy in Ottawa more. If thar focus continues, I can understand why the comments section reflects people who feel they don’t have a political party to support.
Bill Morneau got his experience from his family, his political connections and his HR firm that works for large corporations that acquire wealth, not create it. He has absolutely no courage to do what it takes to trash these kinds of monopolies. He favours SNC Lavalin, as all Liberals currently do, so where this author gets off saying this current iteration of the Liberals doesnt do exactly what Rogers, Telus, Loblaws and the BoC tell them to do, I don't know, but something tells me these monopolies own both parties.
According to a database from Open Government, the firm (SNC-Lavalin) received 142 government contracts with a combined worth of about $25 million between January 2019 and June 2020
I would like to see some sort of totally publicly funded election that provides x amount of an allowance to candidates who satisfy legislated criteria. Those who fail to receive a percentage of votes would need to pay the allowance back. I’m very concerned about the way money is raised and used under our current system. Parties wouldn’t like it but we need to know more about how candidates are financially supported.
With the embrace of federal NDPers by the Liberals, there is no longer a "l"iberal party. It's become the NDP. The Progressive Conservative party (ON) policies are not "c"onservative they're "l"iberal and there is no viable conservative party as yet either provincially or federally.
The liberals actually won in Ontario...they just called themselves Ford conservatives.
Ford won because people didn’t vote. It’s not surprising. Everyone is exhausted.
Last summer we had a Spongy Caterpillar plague on top of COVID. It did a huge amount of damage. Then we had a fierce winter. Then, rain, rain, rain, rain and a BIG windstorm that resulted in the loss of electricity for a huge number of people, some for over a week. Many roads were impassable.
You speak of Eastern Ontario I believe . I agree. The rest of Ontario is a different animal - they are more Red Liberal/Blue Tory. Del Duca just didn't cut it, or inspire. Ford kept his mouth shut and was handled.....
Actually no. The north west of the province has been dealing with floods, for instance. Thunder Bay is still sand bagging so I am told. There are still pockets of the province where the roads are obstructed by downed trees.
I expect someone is, at this moment, designing a research project to look at this historically low voter participation. I hope to see the results before the next election and I will be interested if one of the findings suggests that we are so complacent that we don’t value our right to vote.
Since when have the Liberals of today ever been stuck in the middle of the road? They have been too busy passing on the left, caught some loose gravel on the shoulder, went straight into the ditch so hard that they knocked the engine into the trunk.
Good article. The last government that had a strong focus on the economy was Mulroney's. Chretien was a feel-good PM who took no risks. Harper focused his attention on primary industries and riding economics while losing 450,000 manufacturing jobs. Trudeau would be a perfect leader for the NDP. Who will lead us out of this morass?
With equal pedantry: the Peterson Liberals ended the outright provincial ban and kicked it back to the municipalities to decide. Most of them refused to do anything.
When pro-Iraq-War columnists weren't fired for being so wrong, I thought it was some rotten biased media publisher thing, but then financial columnists who got the Global Financial Crisis wrong, stayed too. I finally got that columnists aren't paid to be right, just to "drive engagement", and horse-races, as competitions, just engage more than policy, which is just about doing work.
But I can't read horse-race pieces since Trump; all I can think, as they write confidently about what this group of voters 'thinks', or that group 'feels', is that They All Missed Trump, They All Missed Trump.
We all like to have good government programs that promise good services like a comprehensive health system etc., so I can see why there are so many people that vote for the Troo Doh type of Liberalism. The trouble is, these same people have no care about where the money comes from to pay for it all, as long as it doesn't come out of their pockets in the form of increased taxes. It would be nice to have the statistic on Ontario for instance, what percentage of voters who vote Liberal are government employees. These people don't seem to have any care at all that the money to pay for all the borrowed $ to pay for these wonderful things will be coming out of the pockets of their (and our) children and grandchildren. To me, these voters are simply reprehensible. It's like parents saying to their kids just out of high school, mum and I going on a three month around the world vacation. See you in 3. And then when they are back, they give the kids bright shiny new credit cards in their own names as a gift. Followed by: "Oh, there is $50,000 charged up on each card to pay for our vacation. Have fun being an adult.
Unfortunately, I don't think that's an indication that the Liberals are better, just that we're in trouble with either party. Justin Trudeau has made it clear that he isn't particularly interested in finance, nor does he ascribe much importance to it. "Budgets balance themselves" was a fairly good indication of which way things would go with Trudeau in charge, and he's never had a strong finance minister to keep him in check.
You're also taking a pretty glib perspective on the role of various governments in balancing the budget. The Mulroney government started in a hole after the Trudeau years, with government finances in a massive mess due to out of control spending, inflation, and high interest rates. They didn't balance the budget, but did manage to ensure that they got rid of the structural deficit. Mulroney also took the political heat to bring in the GST and the US Free Trade Agreement with a subsequent boom in revenue that benefiting Chretien. Chretien finally got the budget in balance, but that hadn't been his plan when elected in 1993. Rather, Canadian finances were in such trouble that he had to put ambitions on hold and let Paul Martin finally take action. An improving economy after the recession of the early '90s and end of the Cold War, falling interest rates, plus those structural gains put in place by Mulroney made the job considerably easier.
The most remarkable thing the Harper Conservatives did was go into deficit in response to the 2008 financial crisis, then stick to a plan to gradually bring the budget back into balance. They did it through a grinding process of attrition and finding efficiencies, and there were news stories every day about one interest group or another complaining that their particular favored program was being cut back. (My favorite was when 2-3 academics complained about how a fisheries library was being closed in Halifax, notwithstanding that the primary library remained in Ottawa, the whole collection was being digitized, and the library didn't seem to be used by anybody but the 2-3 academics quoted in the CBC piece.) That's not a natural thing for politicians to do - you get little credit for cutting back spending, and a lot of criticism from the people who are affected. Indeed, the Liberal party spent a good part of the 2015 campaign trying to dispute that the Conservatives had actually balanced the budget, before promptly going into deficit after their election.
Unfortunately, I see no sign of a Chretien-era Paul Martin in the Liberals, and the Conservatives seem to have taken the lesson that it's better to abandon fiscal discipline in favor of throwing borrowed money at *their* favored groups.
Which is completely in line with what I wrote. Deficits continued to accumulate under Mulroney; he at least got the budget to the point where the government was collecting more in taxes than it was spending on programs. He also made a major reform to revenues with the introduction of the GST. Martin built on that platform and finally eliminated deficits. However, it's a mistake to give Chretien and Martin full credit for eliminating the budget deficit. They built on previous efforts, and also caught some measure of luck with declining interest rates and a post-Cold War economic boom that didn't have much to do with Canada.
Good article. I am starting to suspect that a large number, possibly the majority of Canadian's have no political party that truly represents them. Unfortunately I find myself in that number, and really wonder what I will do next election.
I am one of those voters without a home. I am in that 'Blue Liberal/Red Tory' band. I am very concerned with lagging productivity as that has such a huge downstream impact on all public policy; as the economy fails to meaningfully grow, we're left arguing about how to redistribute (or not) the same size pie.
While parties vie for 'engaged' voters by promising to fix issues that they really have limited ability to deliver on, their constituencies are getting smaller and more partisan. Meanwhile, they seem to be actively encouraging people like me to get disengaged.
I suspect -- and hope -- that some smart party (even if it's a new party) will see that gap and fill it. I don't know a lot of actual partisans beyond the digital realm; I suspect there are a lot of fairly disengaged, discouraged people who might vote for a party that stops yelling, promises things they can actually deliver (then does) and generally focused on "peace, order and good government". But, maybe I'm dreaming.
FWIW, though, I do think that Del Duca was an uninspiring candidate and his platform seemed full of the kind of gimmicks that made it hard for voters like me to take him seriously.
Tony - I am also in the Blue Liberal/Red Tory band, which is probably why I always enjoy your comments so much! During the convoy protests, all I could think was, “Can we just put Michael Chong in charge for a while?” I also really admired Joel Lightbound’s courage at that time, and would love to see someone like him lead the Liberals. I still think there are lots of great people in both parties, but what I think is “great” probably wouldn’t win an election.
I suspect there are more of us than pundits think. But, I also see a lot of people like me getting discouraged by electoral politics -- seeing people regularly behave in a way that would be considered wildly unprofessional for most of us. I vote; but I suspect those like us who aren't as politically engaged are starting to tune out, which is a problem: if only the partisans are left, we'll get poor governance.
I’m one of the many who did not vote in the Ontario election. I feel badly about it, but I had a last-minute opportunity to go out of town for a week, and it was too late to vote early. I could have cut my trip short to come back to vote, but I chose to put my own needs and happiness above my civic duty. Normally I vote early just in case, but this time I still didn’t know who I was going to vote for and the day just kind of crept up on me. I would welcome an online voting option for these situations and think it would make a big difference for turnout.
Isn't this the band Charest is reaching out to, those orphaned by current partisanship?
Although I am skeptical of red-toryism, I probably fit this band as well. As much as I love politics it feels weird feeling like I'd be more at home in the progressive-conservative party my grandparents voted for in the '60s than what ever we have today.
One elderly gentleman from the church where I grew would fit this band as well. For him the green party was a possible solution. While I think the green party does try to do this, for some reason they just don't jive. Any guesses for why?
Also, I'd suggest this trend goes back a couple of years. The conversation with the gentleman I refer to took place like 20 years ago. I'm sure there are always people disaffected. But it seems to me you are describing a particular trend.
"It doesn’t think much about economics or fiscal policy." One of the most frightening ideas for any political party, for shouldn't voter income be one of a government's highest priorities?
I wish I had an argument for any of this, but sadly can't find any. I believe the economic situation is now so bad that governments will do anything to avoid having to deal with it. Its cause is a lack of vision, a quest for power, and the reality that you can no longer get elected by telling the truth. The vacuum of leadership at all levels is slowly killing Canada.
David, you write, "... governments will do almost anything to try and deal with it."
I would amend your statement to read "... governments will do almost anything to appear to try and deal with it."
My point is that governments seem to be all about appearance and reality is simply a happenstance on the way to the next photo op.
I have made the correction.....I meant to say "will do anything to avoid having to deal with it"
I think the disappearance of the Business Liberals is part of a bigger problem where politicians have neglected the basic functions of government in favor of chasing exciting ideas. Our federal Liberal government wants to pursue universal childcare, but hasn't demonstrated the basic competence to issue passports and staff airport security. City councils debate decarbonization and climate change policy, but won't issue building permits in a timely fashion or provide oversight to police forces to deal with public safety concerns. People and politicians clamoring for more government involvement in society and the economy seem oblivious to the fact that government isn't doing particularly well at managing its baseline functions. Start getting that right, and maybe people will be more interested in letting you explore the next big sky idea.
Exactly. City permitting delayed a modest home renovation we did by 18 months. At one point I waited 4 months during renovations for a set of stairs to our basement to get approved. Our neighbourhood outdoor pool was wrecked by a storm in the fall - but they aren't getting around to fixing it this summer. However they have increased property taxes for a climate change fund. Progressive leaders seem endlessly distracted trying to solve problems that are either intractable (poverty) or that arguably don't exist (institutional racism due to police shootings in another country). When I think about the Federal Liberals - despite the profligate spending - the only thing they appear to have achieved is to legalize cannabis.
Excellent article & comments. Wynne failed to take care of the revenue side of the ledger .Ford ( although not my favorite person ) is doing that , thereby strengthening the economy now & for the future . This activity directly improves socioeconomic balance , a root cause of so many problems.
🇺🇦♥️🇨🇦⚡️
Good point ; achieved by developing revenue , not just spending.
I'll believe it when I see it. All that appears to be coming is a $10 billion highway that accomplishes nothing, and free reign to do whatever he wants.
Firstly 57% of voters allowed free reign. Secondly ,although a fiscal conservative, I agree with you, the 413 concept is 100% wrong.🤔 There is a lot going on in Ontario as far as job growth goes , for the middle class. The really wealthy knocked the middle class flying over the last 10 years in North America. Pls don't tell me your ok with Wynne's / Trudeau’s economics !
Oh no, I'm not. But I would have liked to see some creative ideas...like 50% off nursing school tuition for the next 5 years....or anything that looks like a vision. The budget suggested he ate Kathleen Wynne, and felt the urge to spend the same way. But I don't trust him at all and will judge by his actions more than his words. I used to be an optimist.....
Good thinking , & totally understand any trepidation towards him. Only real leaders have VISION , , , maybe Zelensky , that's it.
In Nova Scotia I had the option of voting for Liberals or Progressive Conservatives. Federally that option has disappeared. Yes - Liberals are more left now. But look at the right! Endless debate about who supported the convoy in Ottawa more. If thar focus continues, I can understand why the comments section reflects people who feel they don’t have a political party to support.
Bill Morneau got his experience from his family, his political connections and his HR firm that works for large corporations that acquire wealth, not create it. He has absolutely no courage to do what it takes to trash these kinds of monopolies. He favours SNC Lavalin, as all Liberals currently do, so where this author gets off saying this current iteration of the Liberals doesnt do exactly what Rogers, Telus, Loblaws and the BoC tell them to do, I don't know, but something tells me these monopolies own both parties.
Which seems to be a global problem.....politicians answering to their owners.
According to a database from Open Government, the firm (SNC-Lavalin) received 142 government contracts with a combined worth of about $25 million between January 2019 and June 2020
Author of the article:National Post Staff
Publishing date:Aug 21, 2020 • August 21, 2020 • 3 minute read •
Absolutely. A political party needs to form that refuses to take any donations or consult from large corporations.
I would like to see some sort of totally publicly funded election that provides x amount of an allowance to candidates who satisfy legislated criteria. Those who fail to receive a percentage of votes would need to pay the allowance back. I’m very concerned about the way money is raised and used under our current system. Parties wouldn’t like it but we need to know more about how candidates are financially supported.
With the embrace of federal NDPers by the Liberals, there is no longer a "l"iberal party. It's become the NDP. The Progressive Conservative party (ON) policies are not "c"onservative they're "l"iberal and there is no viable conservative party as yet either provincially or federally.
The liberals actually won in Ontario...they just called themselves Ford conservatives.
Ford won because people didn’t vote. It’s not surprising. Everyone is exhausted.
Last summer we had a Spongy Caterpillar plague on top of COVID. It did a huge amount of damage. Then we had a fierce winter. Then, rain, rain, rain, rain and a BIG windstorm that resulted in the loss of electricity for a huge number of people, some for over a week. Many roads were impassable.
Ford got lucky.
Huh!
So Ford got re-elected because of weather and spongy caterpillars. Who knew?
Because of voter exhaustion.
You speak of Eastern Ontario I believe . I agree. The rest of Ontario is a different animal - they are more Red Liberal/Blue Tory. Del Duca just didn't cut it, or inspire. Ford kept his mouth shut and was handled.....
Actually no. The north west of the province has been dealing with floods, for instance. Thunder Bay is still sand bagging so I am told. There are still pockets of the province where the roads are obstructed by downed trees.
I expect someone is, at this moment, designing a research project to look at this historically low voter participation. I hope to see the results before the next election and I will be interested if one of the findings suggests that we are so complacent that we don’t value our right to vote.
Since when have the Liberals of today ever been stuck in the middle of the road? They have been too busy passing on the left, caught some loose gravel on the shoulder, went straight into the ditch so hard that they knocked the engine into the trunk.
Good article. The last government that had a strong focus on the economy was Mulroney's. Chretien was a feel-good PM who took no risks. Harper focused his attention on primary industries and riding economics while losing 450,000 manufacturing jobs. Trudeau would be a perfect leader for the NDP. Who will lead us out of this morass?
Forgive my pedantry, but the NDP - not David Peterson - ended the ban on Sunday shopping.
With equal pedantry: the Peterson Liberals ended the outright provincial ban and kicked it back to the municipalities to decide. Most of them refused to do anything.
Canadians of all stripes quite frankly have their hand out. We are an entitled people who ask "what can government deliver for me?"
Ah, horse-race pieces. How they love them.
When pro-Iraq-War columnists weren't fired for being so wrong, I thought it was some rotten biased media publisher thing, but then financial columnists who got the Global Financial Crisis wrong, stayed too. I finally got that columnists aren't paid to be right, just to "drive engagement", and horse-races, as competitions, just engage more than policy, which is just about doing work.
But I can't read horse-race pieces since Trump; all I can think, as they write confidently about what this group of voters 'thinks', or that group 'feels', is that They All Missed Trump, They All Missed Trump.
We all like to have good government programs that promise good services like a comprehensive health system etc., so I can see why there are so many people that vote for the Troo Doh type of Liberalism. The trouble is, these same people have no care about where the money comes from to pay for it all, as long as it doesn't come out of their pockets in the form of increased taxes. It would be nice to have the statistic on Ontario for instance, what percentage of voters who vote Liberal are government employees. These people don't seem to have any care at all that the money to pay for all the borrowed $ to pay for these wonderful things will be coming out of the pockets of their (and our) children and grandchildren. To me, these voters are simply reprehensible. It's like parents saying to their kids just out of high school, mum and I going on a three month around the world vacation. See you in 3. And then when they are back, they give the kids bright shiny new credit cards in their own names as a gift. Followed by: "Oh, there is $50,000 charged up on each card to pay for our vacation. Have fun being an adult.
Unfortunately, I don't think that's an indication that the Liberals are better, just that we're in trouble with either party. Justin Trudeau has made it clear that he isn't particularly interested in finance, nor does he ascribe much importance to it. "Budgets balance themselves" was a fairly good indication of which way things would go with Trudeau in charge, and he's never had a strong finance minister to keep him in check.
You're also taking a pretty glib perspective on the role of various governments in balancing the budget. The Mulroney government started in a hole after the Trudeau years, with government finances in a massive mess due to out of control spending, inflation, and high interest rates. They didn't balance the budget, but did manage to ensure that they got rid of the structural deficit. Mulroney also took the political heat to bring in the GST and the US Free Trade Agreement with a subsequent boom in revenue that benefiting Chretien. Chretien finally got the budget in balance, but that hadn't been his plan when elected in 1993. Rather, Canadian finances were in such trouble that he had to put ambitions on hold and let Paul Martin finally take action. An improving economy after the recession of the early '90s and end of the Cold War, falling interest rates, plus those structural gains put in place by Mulroney made the job considerably easier.
The most remarkable thing the Harper Conservatives did was go into deficit in response to the 2008 financial crisis, then stick to a plan to gradually bring the budget back into balance. They did it through a grinding process of attrition and finding efficiencies, and there were news stories every day about one interest group or another complaining that their particular favored program was being cut back. (My favorite was when 2-3 academics complained about how a fisheries library was being closed in Halifax, notwithstanding that the primary library remained in Ottawa, the whole collection was being digitized, and the library didn't seem to be used by anybody but the 2-3 academics quoted in the CBC piece.) That's not a natural thing for politicians to do - you get little credit for cutting back spending, and a lot of criticism from the people who are affected. Indeed, the Liberal party spent a good part of the 2015 campaign trying to dispute that the Conservatives had actually balanced the budget, before promptly going into deficit after their election.
Unfortunately, I see no sign of a Chretien-era Paul Martin in the Liberals, and the Conservatives seem to have taken the lesson that it's better to abandon fiscal discipline in favor of throwing borrowed money at *their* favored groups.
Which is completely in line with what I wrote. Deficits continued to accumulate under Mulroney; he at least got the budget to the point where the government was collecting more in taxes than it was spending on programs. He also made a major reform to revenues with the introduction of the GST. Martin built on that platform and finally eliminated deficits. However, it's a mistake to give Chretien and Martin full credit for eliminating the budget deficit. They built on previous efforts, and also caught some measure of luck with declining interest rates and a post-Cold War economic boom that didn't have much to do with Canada.