I couldn’t figure out what the loud noise was. It was the Speccie crowd celebrating the resignation of woke poster-boy, Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada. There were a few high fives around here too. Talk about a fraud, an empty vessel of a politician who thought that uttering the platitudes of the left was the same thing as governing.

For some reason, I have always had a penchant for Canadian singer-songwriters: Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Anne Murray, Neil Young, Sarah McLachlan, Jann Ardern, K.D. Laing. It’s a long list but I draw the line at Celine Dion and Bryan Adams.

Perhaps those long months of freezing temperatures and the need to be inside most of the time contribute to their creative outpourings. To be sure, quite a few Canadian artists quickly hotfoot it out of the country, returning only occasionally. It’s just a shame that none of their genius was apparent in the Trudeau kid, although he does have a high opinion of his abilities.

I have always taken a keen interest in Canada, in part because of its many similarities to Australia. Both countries are former British colonies – I’m ignoring Quebec here – and both are federations. Canada’s population is now 41 million; ours is 27 million – sort of in the same league. Our weather is a whole lot better than Canada’s.

Canada is a resource-rich country like Australia, although the abundance of oil and gas in Canada is at the higher end of the cost curve. Canada has a much higher share of manufacturing than Australia, including in the automotive and automotive parts sector. The chemical industry and aluminium smelters powered by hydro are also important in Canada. The US is Canada’s largest trading partner by a country mile; China is our largest trading partner by the same distance.

While both countries are federations, the provinces in Canada are more powerful than our states. The provinces, particularly the wealthier ones, are good at raising their own revenue. There is a wide disparity in average incomes across the provinces and a degree of horizontal fiscal equalisation goes on in Canada, but not to the same degree as here. Quebec raises its own special issues – but who doesn’t love maple syrup?

There were a number of reasons for the resignation of the ignominious Trudeau – his obsession with identity politics and climate action; the extreme restrictions imposed on free speech; his unconscionable behaviour during Covid; excessive immigration; a lack of affordable housing; a crime wave associated with the decriminalisation of drug use. But an overriding consideration is the fact that the Canadian economy is in the toilet and has been for some time.

To be sure, over the past two years, the decline in per capita GDP has been greater in Australia than in Canada. But if we take the past three years, Canada receives the wooden spoon. Unemployment is also considerably higher in Canada than here: close to 7 per cent relative to our 4 per cent.

One of the immediate precipitating factors leading to Trudeau’s resignation was his decision to demote the finance minister (the equivalent of our treasurer), Chrystia Freeland. She was also deputy prime minister. Before entering parliament, she had been a journalist at the Financial Times. Justin had been a drama teacher and regular attendee of fancy dress parties.

It would be fair to say that Freeland and Trudeau were not on the same page when it came to economic and budget management.  Concerned about his tanking in the polls, Trudeau was into gimmicks – hence, the month-long pause of the GST on certain goods and handing out $C250 to every Canadian earning less than $C150,000.

Freeland’s view was that these measures were not justified and took attention away from the main game, which is the threat of the US imposing tariffs on Canada. Her preference was to keep the fiscal powder dry.

It all came to a head hours before a mini-budget was about to be delivered in December. Quite rightly, Freeland refused to hand down the budget statement. She was out of there. By this time, it was Freeland 1, Trudeau 0.

The mini-budget was a shocker. It went by the mawkish title, Fairness for Every Generation. It was revealed that the budget deficit for 2023-24 had blown out by C$20 billion and would now come in at above C$60 billion.

This is notwithstanding the budget guardrails that were put in place that the deficit would not exceed C$40 billion. Additional spending on pharmaceutical products, dental care and childcare were the main contributors to the blowout. Budget deficits are forecast for every year for the rest of the decade.

The budget papers contain a series of unbelievable projections including a fall in the debt-to-GDP ratio which is essentially predicated on absurdly optimistic rates of growth in GDP. But the real nightmare is the prediction that the cost of servicing the debt will rise from C$24 billion currently to C$70 billion by the end of the decade. This is a crippling impost.

(Incidentally, the budget papers in Canada bear a spooky resemblance to ours. They both contain the same clichés. Statement and Impact Report on Gender, Diversity and Inclusion; a Fair Future for Indigenous People; Safer, Healthier Communities; and the list goes on. All the figures are massaged to give the best possible spin for the government while clearly failing to give a real assessment of future trends.)

Now the Canadian voting public may not take an interest in the arcane world of economic and fiscal management, but they can spot a crock when they see one. All that guff about ‘unlocking 3.87 million net new homes by 2031, to ensure everyone can find an affordable place to call home’. Gosh, it reminds me of the Australian government’s own fantasy housing targets.

Add in the fact that Canada has run a ridiculously expansive immigration program, including large numbers of refugees, and it’s no wonder that the Canadian economy is in a world of pain. Trudeau simply wouldn’t accept that there should be speed limits placed on migrant intakes.

His vision was for a prosperous, harmonious multicultural society – sure – even though the polls were telling him that voters wanted lower immigration. Late last year, there was a weak attempt to restrict the number of new migrants – caps on international students were imposed, for instance – but the action was far too late.

If insisting that flags be placed at half-mast on public buildings for six months because of some concocted atrocities that occurred in Canada’s boarding schools – see Nigel Biggar for a convincing refutation – Trudeau was your man.

Otherwise, good riddance to Justin-baby. Like your good buddy, Jacinda, you were feted on the slopes of Davos and at other international fora. It’s just that you didn’t have a clue about being a functioning leader for an advanced economy focusing on the things that matter to most Canadians.