Government spending represented 40.4 per cent of the country's economy in 2019, up from 37.4 per cent in 2007.
optimal size of government
When tax rates increase, people often change their economic behaviour in ways that shrink the targeted tax base.
In the last year of reliable data before the pandemic, government spending in Nova Scotia represented 60.2 per cent of the economy.
Subnational jurisdictions of around 9.5 million people seem to be the fastest-growing economies.
Nova Scotia recorded the largest government sector at 61.6 per cent of the economy, more than double the optimal size.
In 2018-19, per person federal program spending (adjusted for inflation) reached $8,869.
The Clerk of the Privy Council's Blueprint 2020 exercise is a positive step in redefining the role and functions of the federal public service in Canada. It asks important questions about how the public service needs to evolve, what best practices it should adopt, and how the federal public service can come to represent a competitive advantage for the country. We laud the Clerk and the entire public service for this introspective initiative.
However, a key question omitted from the blueprint document is: what's the right size and scope of the federal government in 2020?