Ottawa (AFP)

Canada was heavily indebted during the pandemic to support workers and keep its economy afloat, but this issue was ultimately overlooked during the campaign even by conservatives who have long adhered to strict fiscal orthodoxy.

"For this election, I am interested in issues related to climate change, student loans and the fight against social problems - like those of my generation," Meg Sweeney, 23, recently graduated from the University, told AFP. 'university.

"It's not that I don't care about the debt, I just don't think about it as much as my parents and previous generations who thought it was a huge problem," she adds.

In the end, the youngest worry little, the oldest do not feel directly concerned so the candidates have regularly evaded the debate during a blitz campaign that ends on Sunday.

Canada entered the pandemic in an enviable fiscal position compared to other G7 countries.

But with the support measures for businesses and the aid granted to employees, the net debt of the federal government, that is to say the amount of accumulated deficits, has soared and must reach a record this year at more than 1,200 billion Canadian dollars ( 801 billion euros), or 51.2% of GDP.

In June 2020, Canada was deprived of its perfect AAA rating on its long-term debt by the rating agency Fitch, which reduced it to AA + "because of the deterioration of public finances" .

According to the OECD, public debt should stabilize next year.

For the organization, "once the economy has recovered on solid foundations, a medium-term budgetary strategy to reduce public debt should be considered".

"What is at stake in this election is to see who can pull us out of the recession and rebuild the economy," Conservative Erin O'Toole said at the start of the campaign in August.

The one who is on a par in the latest polls with incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the eve of the election has promised to return to a balanced budget in ten years without cutting spending.

- "Change of attitude" -

For his part, the liberal Justin Trudeau relativizes.

It "is important to live within our means but I think it is also important to make the right investments so that future generations can prosper," he said.

In his campaign platform, he proposes a plan of approximately C $ 78 billion in new spending over the next five years.

Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole at a press conference after a French-language televised debate, in Montreal, Quebec, September 2, 2021 Andrej Ivanov AFP / Archives

All of this is possible because currently record high interest rates have made the cost of borrowing cheap.

With interest rates low as is currently the case, Kevin Page, director of the Institute of Public Finance and Democracy, believes that this is quite sustainable but "there is always a risk that the rates go up ".

"There is a legitimate concern that this looks completely open, that people assume that with low interest rates we can accumulate debt and that there will not be significant costs," he adds. .

A concern shared by Ian Lee, a 67-year-old professor at the University of Ottawa: "I am surprised to see that the attitude of Canadians towards debt has changed dramatically during the pandemic."

Tells him to fear reduced "room for maneuver" for future governments because of the weight of this debt and fear significant tax increases.

During the election campaign, he laments, the candidates debated "how we are going to redistribute income, without saying much about how we are going to generate wealth".

But for Meg Sweeney, who evokes global warming or the pandemic, the essential is elsewhere because "unless we first solve a billion other things, who knows if we will still be here in 50 years?".

© 2021 AFP