No spin about it. Cutting the GST was bad fiscal policy. Every economist in the country said as much, but the government went ahead and did it anyway.
The Conservatives do indeed deserve credit for slaying deficits faster than they originally forecast. As a fiscal conservative (small-c), I applaud them for their work in that respect. They also deserve criticism for putting politics ahead of the good of the country by making a bad campaign promise to cut a tax that should not have been cut, consequently raising the federal deficit/debt further than it needed to be.
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