The National Post reports in its Friday edition that economists and observers predicted that Prime Minister Mark Carney's election would harm the economy, and this seems to be happening. The Post's Jamie Sarkonak writes that on Tuesday, Fitch issued a warning about the implications of his election on Canada's debt interest rates. "Canada's credit strengths offer significant headroom to weather a fiscal or economic shock, wrote Fitch, "but increased structural deficits would pressure its credit profile." Fitch had already priced in federal government deficits for 2025 and 2026, amounting to 2.6 per cent and 2.4 per cent of Canada's GDP, respectively. Factoring in the Carney platform, though, resulted in even worse figures: The 2025 deficit is now slated to be 3.1 per cent of GDP, growing to 3.2 per cent in 2026. For context, the federal deficit between 2000 and 2019 ran at 0.4 per cent of Canada's GDP. The Carney plan takes us to eight times that. Plus, he has the hurdle of a new Parliament, with new political dynamics. Fitch cautions, "As a minority government the Liberals will have to compromise with other parties to pass legislation, increasing the likelihood that enacted policies will differ from the platform."
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