When asked recently if he would allow the federal government to slip back into deficit spending, Paul Martin responded "I'm not rigid here. We have to do the right thing."

Over the years I have used this column to expose waste of taxpayer dollars and hold the government accountable. I have delivered the taxpayer point of view on multi-million dollar potato barns, Crown corporation profiteering, and all manner of outrages large and small. But the ordinariness of these issues seems trivial in the shadow of the recent tragedy. I never thought I would be trying to offer the taxpayer point of view on the impact of a murderous terrorist attack on our continent.

So what is the impact First of all, there is a very good chance that the attack has taken a teetering world economy and pushed it over the edge of a recession, which means less revenue and more spending pressure on government. Certainly Canada is in a better position to weather a recession than it was ten years ago, when massive deficits were routine. But the federal government, careless and overconfident thanks to our buoyant economy, has been wasting more and spending more instead of aggressively
tackling the debt. The national debt and the debt-payments are an enormous burden we still carry.

Secondly, there are new spending pressures like the sudden demand from Air Canada's shameless CEO Robert Milton for $4 billion in government aid. On a per capita basis that's almost three times what the US government is offering to their entire airline industry! Critical observers wonder how much of this money is needed to deal with the effects of September 11, and how much is needed to shore up Milton's money-losing battle to run Westjet and other efficient competitors out of business.

Third, national security is now a top spending priority. Border control, police, intelligence, counter-terrorism, airport security, etc. are areas that will have to be beefed up in the wake of the September 11 attack. And while the world is declaring war on terrorism, many Canadians (myself included) are embarrassed to the extent we have allowed our armed forces to deteriorate. The protection of the nation is the most vital duty of any government, yet it is the duty we have neglected the most. Over the past
decades we have chosen to impoverish our soldiers and endanger them with poor equipment while relying on our allies for our defence.

At the same time we are paying corporate welfare to Liberal-friendly companies like Bombardier and funding billion dollar boondoggles. We can't just blame the government for this. Cutting defence spending to the bone, and then amputating the bones, has been the path of least resistance with the public. That must change.

Finally, I return to Paul Martin's statement at the top of the article. We now know how economically disruptive a terrorist attack can be. We can better weather these attacks from a strong fiscal position. Maintaining a balanced budget should be a part of Canada's national security strategy.