Gerald Heinrichs is a lawyer in Regina, Saskatchewan.In a famous speech, Ronald Reagan declared, "Government is the problem." Today, however, a lot of Canadians disagree with that. For them, government is the ideal solution for all manner of things.Over the last 10 years, Canada's Liberal cabinet has given the federal government many new chores. Those include a national dental program, a national daycare plan, and a long list of net-zero policies. Along with that, the federal government has sprouted a new level of internal bureaucracy eager to implement DEI and climate action in every corner.But by doing all this, the government has gotten much bigger and much more expensive. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation reports that the federal government has added 99,000 bureaucrats since 2016. The CTF goes on to say the overall cost of government has increased 77%. .RUBENSTEIN: OneBC leader’s truthful comments drive Métis indigenous delegation from legislature.The organization Policy Options has also been watching. They have identified several federal departments that have grown enormously, called "The Big Six.” Foremost is Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada, that has expanded by 105%. What does this mean for Canadians? According to a Fraser Institute study, Canadian Tax Freedom Day in 2025 was June 8. That means Canadian taxpayers work about 44% of the year just to cover their taxes or $68,961 for an average family income of $157,379. But believe it or not, all those taxes from millions of Canadians doesn't cover the cost. The November 2025 federal budget announced $581 billion in government spending for the coming year, but only $503 billion in revenue. So the government needs to borrow $78.3 billion to pay for doing what it does. And the accumulated federal debt is now over $1.28 trillion..According to many Canadians though, none of this is any problem at all. In March 2026, the federal NDP will choose a new leader. The candidates have already laid out plans for an even bigger bureaucracy. Those plans include government house-building programs, government-run grocery stores, and free university tuition. There exists, for many, a Pollyanna belief that anything is possible with government in charge. But no one should believe it works that way. It’s far from it. Careful inspection will disclose waste and failed results that often go unchecked. A US organization called Citizens Against Government Waste publishes an annual book called The Pig Book: How Government Wastes Your Money. Or as Ringo Starr famously said, "Anything government touches turns to crap." But aside from taxes and inefficiency, another thing happens as government gets bigger. It takes on a dark personality. Murray Rothbard called it the "organized aggressor.” From Brave New World to The Matrix, big government is the fountain for dystopia writers. In varying degrees, they write fiction based upon fact. As H. L. Menken observed, "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.".ALBERS: Canada is risking its own collapse by sabotaging the West.In recent months, however, there have been some dramatic reversals. The Milei government in Argentina implemented cuts to government handouts and ministries such as the Ministry of Social Development. And in the US, the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE has, according to its latest savings tracker, cut $214 billion with various reductions like cancelling programs promoting diversity and gender politics. For those who have no faith in big government, these are marvelous changes. Speaking at Davos in 2024, Argentina’s President Milei explained it all, saying, "the values of the West have been co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism, and therefore to poverty." On November 4, socialist Zohran Mandani was elected mayor of New York City. In his victory speech, he declared, "there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about."That shortsighted remark says it all. Because as long as enough Canadians believe that, the push for bigger government will carry on.Gerald Heinrichs is a lawyer in Regina, Saskatchewan.
