The Canadian govt is the primary creator of Canadian dollars.

When the federal govt runs a deficit of say $1B, that's a surplus of $1B in the private sector. $1B more spent into industry than collected in taxes. Good times for the private sector.

When the federal govt runs a surplus of $1B, that is a deficit of $1B in the private sector. $1B more collected in taxes than spent. This is an absolute disaster for the economy.

When you consider the above, you can see how ridiculous it is for the federal govt to run a balanced budget or surplus. A balanced budget is a strongly recessionary position, choking off economic growth in the private sector.

I would rather see improved tax brackets to get money back into the economy by forcing the rich to either pay more in taxes, or steal less from the employees thus paying them a fair share (which in turn will actually be spent and fed back into the economy)

And increase social spending. Of those who can be reformed, they'll only do so if there's a support network.

I never understand why people don't want criminals reformed, just locked up.

Because "lock them up" is a simple answer that is quick, easy to understand and relativity easy to do.

Rehabilitation takes time, takes effort, and doesn't have a "one size fits all" method.

It's not a simple, easy to understand (and easy to slogan) approach, even if it does actually have proven better long-term outcomes for society.

It's because there is no nuance anymore. With every issue you have to either be 100% on my side or 100% on the other side. So many times people argue for and against things that aren't mutually exclusive. It doesn't mean we should "both sides" everything, but sometimes both sides each have half of a good idea.

I never understand why people don’t want criminals reformed, just locked up.

It is pretty easy to understand. People are interested in their personal safety above all else, way more than they care about inefficient use of public resources and human tragedies brought by a carceral system. Many favor systems that error to the side of unjustly punishing over a system that accepts the inherent trade-offs of pursuing common good.

In other words, to some folks, criminals aren't people so we shouldn't worry about what's good for them - all worry is dedicated to making the lives of white flighters as stress-free as possible. TLDR: snowflake conservatives.

I'd like the justice system funded enough that criminals aren't getting released due to long court dates or things like that.

I also want the police at a local level to take more action on petty crimes, right now criminals know the consequences are nil and it's contributing to a more expensive/lower quality society.

Squinty McProudBoy would enact trump's project 2025 in Canada.

Sell of public utilities? Lose the following election and everything is now the party in powers problem

Cuts. Most of the provinces are blue right now. Look around to how well that's going for your day to day services.

This is why the majority of people will never be happy.

One cannot balance a budget with increased spending, lower taxes, and no reductions in spending. But one will tell you they can in order to grab power and that one shouldn't be listened to because that one is likely attempting to create a dictatorship.

enjoy the recessions that come with balanced budgets and surpluses... everyone will be sending in extra taxes to balance that budget.

When was the last time a federal government managed to balance a budget? Trudeau-the-elder landed a smallish surplus once, back in the late 1970s, I think. I'm not aware of anyone having pulled it off since.

And yet he's on course for a landslide election victory. I don't understand people.