When Trudeau took power in 1968, Canada's debt was 11.3 billion and our deficit was zero. By the time he left in 1984, our debt was $128 billion and our deficit was $25 billion annually. John Turner did little to stop this in his short tenure as PM.
I'm not a big fan of Brian Mulroney, but to say that Brian Mulroney single handedly racked up the deficit is an incorrect statement. Brian Mulroney started off with a deficit of $25 billion/year, inherited from the Trudeau/Turner liberals.
Furthermore, these government programs, once put into place, do not stop on a dime. There's a momentum to these things, and it takes time to stop. Look how long it took the Chretien Liberals to bring the deficit under control.
Stephen Dame Wrote:1) There are 42 billion reasons to never elect another Conservative government again. Paul Martin killed the deficit. He did it on the backs of transfer payments, but it was something that HAD to be done, and something Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell didn't think could be done for seven years. He did it in two. We're talking third world status, WTO or US bail out if it didn't happen. This IS an accomplishment.
