From the left: Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy.ALAIN JOCARDCHARLY TRIBALLEAUAND/AFP/Getty Images

Allan Lanthier is a retired partner of an international accounting firm and has been an adviser to both the Department of Finance and the Canada Revenue Agency.

The American people have spoken, and the United States and its allies must now deal with the consequences. With the election of Donald Trump as president, the U.S. may abandon its role as leader of the free world. Tax breaks may favour corporations and the wealthy. And the U.S. may retreat into economic isolation, becoming a country that prefers tariffs over trade.

None of this bodes well. But there is one issue where Canada can learn something from Mr. Trump: his focus on smaller government. And while federal government size may not in fact be a problem in the U.S. – Mr. Trump’s protests notwithstanding – it is in Canada.

In the U.S., more than 85 per cent of government employees work for state and local governments (the same is true in Canada). Still, the U.S. federal government employs about three million people, around the same number it had in 1945 with a much smaller population. Mr. Trump says........

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