Things could be worse when it comes to the current economy, writes Andrew Coyne in an opinion column, but the government could do better. The tariff shock is wearing off. Inflation is contained. Interest rates are falling. But the government’s own long-term projection in the spring economic statement released Tuesday is for growth averaging 1.7 per cent after inflation. That’s a third as fast as we grew in the 1950s and 1960s. It’s half as fast as in the 1970s and 1980s. That’s a major contributor to high deficits. But high deficits also hurt growth, crowding out productive private investment. So do high tax rates and unnecessary regulation – especially the kind that protects cozy industrial oligopolies from competition, such as those that now stifle the telecoms, financial services and airline industries. What, then, does “Canada’s New Government” propose to do about these? Sweeping, pro-investment tax reforms? Radical steps to open protected sectors to competition? No and no. It’s more of the same incremental noodling and state-directed wheel-spinning that got us here. Complacency on taxes, “sector strategies” for every industry under the sun, etc. etc. etc #cdnpoli #carney #liberalbudget