The PM has brought in new social programs, paid for with debt and taxes, but Canadian incomes are at West Virginian levels and declining

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

This is a weekend in which prime ministers past and present are likely to be considering their legacies.

Justin Trudeau can look back at a number of important policy initiatives in his almost nine years in office. He has done plenty of popular redistribution — subsidizing child care, child benefits, dental care and a skeletal pharmacare program, all paid for by rising corporate and marginal personal tax rates and higher debt. He can also claim credit for recovery from the COVID recession, though he did it with over-the-top, inflationary deficits.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

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

He imposed social justice and carbon policy criteria throughout the government, whether in trade agreements and academic research grants or approvals for resource projects. Even federal budgets now contain a (rarely read) gender analysis, concocted no doubt by glassy-eyed civil servants holed up in windowless rooms.

Despite these achievements, the prime minister doesn’t seem ready to leave. Saying “I couldn’t be the man that I am and abandon the fight at this moment,” he has made clear he still has work to do pushing for women’s and LGBTQ rights and fighting climate change.

© Financial Post