
“It is a time to stick to our plan, make wise investments, control our spending, lower taxes and make sure our fiscal situation is balanced and strong.”
– Mr. Harper, on election campaign in August, 2015
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- The Canadian government ran a surplus between 1997 and 2007. Mr. Harper’s government has since suffered 6 years of deficits, including the $5.2-billion deficit for the 2013-14 fiscal year.
[Source, Source, Source] - Canadian public debt has increased from $457 billion (2008) to over $600 billion (current).
[Source, Source, Source] - Since 2006, the increase in the national debt is equivalent to almost $2,200 owed by every taxpaying Canadian
[Source, Source] - Mr. Harper’s government lost track of 3.1-billion dollars. The Auditor General reported that this missing 3.1 billion dollars was for anti-terror funding but it is unaccounted for and cannot be found.
[Source, Source] - Under Mr. Harper’s government, real GDP grew an average of 1.6% per year. In early 2015, the real GDP began shrinking by -0.1%.
[Source, Source, Source] - The burden of taxation has shifted under Mr. Harper from an equal split between corporate and individual to the individual taxpayer carrying the majority of the burden.
[Source, Source] - The surge in the Canadian Dollar, the result of Canada’s myopic focus on oil and resources deindustrialized the manufacturing heartland of Canada. Two hundred manufacturing jobs were lost a day between 2006 and 2008.
[Source (p.71), Source] - The manufacturing sector has not rebounded. In the past 10 years factory employment has dropped by 24 percent. The losses in manufacturing caused a 20% reduction in GPT growth in 2013.
[Source (p.71), Source] - Mr. Harper has consistently grown the size of the government above the rate of inflation during his time in power.
[Source, Source] - Mr. Harper’s government has reduced the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%. A reduction of 32%. He also reduced the GST by 2 percentage points. These tax reductions came at a time when the government was spending more money and have greatly contributed to the national debt.
[Source, Source, Source]