The Collingwood Leisure Time Club was host to one of Canada’s economic thinkers this weekend.
Liberal Finance Critic John McCallum was in town for a meet and greet on Saturday.
People of all ages were at the Leisure Time Club with questions to ask the current Liberal Finance Critic, and former Revenue Minister.
McCallum tells Bayshore Broadcasting News that the upcoming budget in March is critical in Canada’s economic recovery efforts.
He says if the Conservative government withdraws the economic stimulus and cuts back too fast, there is a risk of going back into a recession.
McCallum says governments around the world are facing that same issue, but he adds that it’s also bad to run deficits for too long, because that debt will become a problem for future generations.
He says he’s not too optimistic about the upcoming budget, but hopes they will take action on jobs, because the Liberals have put forward concrete proposals on that issue.
McCallum says that jobs are the number one concern that Canadians have right now, and but he says people are also concerned about pensions, and using the environment to help the economy through the creation of green jobs.
He says the deficit facing Canada is bigger than it need be, because the Conservative government had a 12 billion dollars surplus when they took power, but that money was all gone before the country was even in a recession.