Recipe To Canada’s Miraculous Transformation: Less Government And More Economic Freedom

David Hay CIO of Evergreen Capital Management enumerates how Canadians miraculously transformed her economy from one of a near basketcase “an honorary member of the Third World in the unmanageability of its debt problem” to a first world economy (hat tip John Mauldin)

(all bold emphasis mine)

• Paul Martin, the finance minister for the national Liberal Party, unveiled a budget in early 1995 that shocked all the cynics accustomed to smoke-and-mirrors accounting. It reduced program spending by 8.8% over two years (and our politicos quiver over a mere hint of spending freezes).

• As part of this radical spending rationalization, federal government employment was reduced by 14%.

• Federal grants to the provinces were reduced by 14% as well, but the trade-off was that they were allowed to control how the money was spent. Provincial governments also needed to provide half of all funding (i.e., put skin in the game).

• While some taxes were raised (and, according to the authors, these worked against the recovery), spending cuts were 4 ½ times tax hikes.

• Canada’s welfare system was dramatically modified. Rather than just providing a blank check to the provinces (which administered the welfare programs), Ottawa incentivized them to put the funds to better use. Benefits were cut for single, employable individuals and aggressive efforts were made to get them back in the work force.

• Despite accusations from the far left that the poor would suffer due to these changes, the percentage of welfare recipients fell in just a few short years from 10.7% of the population to 6.8% by 2000. From 1997 to 2007, the percentage of Canadians classified as low-income plunged by over 30%.

• The tax structure was dramatically redesigned. Corporate tax rates were cut by nearly a third, taxes on corporate capital were abolished, and personal income and capital gains taxes were reduced.

• The General Services Tax (basically a consumption tax or VAT) was instituted to pay for the tax cuts described above. While initially very unpopular, it was a key part of the rehab plan.

• The Canada Pension Plan (CPP), the country’s version of Social Security, also underwent major surgery. Instead of payroll taxes gradually rising to 14%, the increases were pulled forward but capped at under 10%. This produced immediate surpluses that were invested in higher-returning corporate securities. (As noted in past EVAs, this is a huge defect with our Social Security system; its many trillions are tied up in low-yielding US government bonds that simply add to our overall national indebtedness.) The CPP today is well-funded and actuarially sound.

• As a result of these actions, and many others I’ve left out, the federal budget was balanced within three years.

After achieving this remarkable feat, Canada went on to produce 11 straight budget surpluses. This allowed our northern neighbors to reduce their federal debt from 80% of GDP to 45%. Further demonstrating how quickly good policy can turn things around, the provinces enacted similar measures.

For most of the permabears, whose economic outlook have been framed on utter dependence on government, they seem to be afraid of their own shadows—they recognize that too much reliance on government is unsustainable, yet they subscribe to the very same prescriptions that has led to the current predicaments of unwieldy debts and perilous fiscal imbalances.

However, as the Canadian model has shown, less government is the answer to any economic recovery or the path to prosperity.

It goes with less taxes, minimal interventionism, fiscal discipline via reduced government spending and the empowerment of the entrepreneurs.

The above also shows that politics evolves—transitions are never smooth. Yet, people learn to adapt to the changes brought about by economic liberalism.

Again David Hay…

in case you think that Canadians universally supported these rational reforms as they were first enacted, consider how similar our northern friends are to us. They are every bit as fractious as we are. There was a cacophonous chorus of extreme Keynesians (those who believe government spending should never be cut) who predicted Canada’s grand experiment would be an abject failure. Yet, despite all those who were sure that downsizing government would do the same to their growth rate, Canada’s economy grew at 3.3% per year versus the developed-world average of 2.7%. Notwithstanding Canada’s undeniable success, should we decide to follow in its footsteps, be prepared for folks like NY Times columnist Paul Krugman to wax apocalyptic. Come to think of it, given his forecasting track record, that would be a good thing.

Bottom line: there will be hope if the incumbent leaders realize, accept and adapt to what are needed most: reforms towards greater economic freedom and the broadening of free trade.