The Conservative party in the Canadian House of Commons debate on Bill C 20 has raised some constructive suggestions about how to fine tune the wage subsidy and income support measures in Bill C20. But unfortunately some of their speakers in parliament, notably Pierre Poilievre from Ontario, has spoken out against the rising deficit and the role of the Bank of Canada in helping to keep interest rates low and supply liquidity to the capital markets by expanding its purchase of Treasury bills, government bonds and corporate bonds. What was perfectly acceptable in the era of the financial crisis of 2008-2009 is now suddenly unacceptable in financing the war against Covid -19. Deficit hysteria is now once again loose among the Conservative party . This is a pity, since it is ill-informed and illogical considering all of the current circumstances and the fact that John Maynard Keynes was published by the great British Conservative politician and publisher Harold Macmillan who defended Keynes‘s work throughout the 1930s and 1940s.( Alister Horne, Macmillan 1891-1956 vol.1 ,pp.63,103,107 and 290,London:Macmillan, 1988)
Winston Churchill once said that the greatest mistake of his political career was returning to the gold standard against the advice of Keynes in 1925. It is unclear exactly who M.Poilievre is listening to but he should think about getting a different advisor. There is no danger of inflation at the present and foreseeable future . The current danger rather lies in disinflation and even deflation.