TRUDEAU WIN PUTS CAPITALISTS IN ‘PENALTY BOX’

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a third term with the promise of higher taxes, bigger deficits and more government spending — a direction that brings angst to the country’s fiscally conservative business leaders. “If you believe that big government is a good thing then you’re dancing in the streets right now,” said David Rosenberg, the economist behind Toronto-based firm Rosenberg Research & Associates Inc. “If you have a semblance of free market capitalism then you’ve been put into the penalty box.” Trudeau’s Liberal Party has shown little interest in curtailing spending after emergency programs rolled out through the COVID-19 pandemic swelled the federal deficit to a projected $331.9 billion this year. “All the parties were just scrambling to buy Canadian votes,” Rosenberg said Tuesday.