Commentary It’s not just the recent blast of winter giving me chills as 2021 comes to a close. The political manoeuvring being done in Ottawa as the fall parliamentary session came to a close is sending outright shivers up my spine, particularly when it comes to the nation’s finances. While Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was celebrating a reduction of the budget deficit during a fiscal update, frustrated members of the Commons finance committee tried and failed to get clarity on a number of fiscal questions posed to senior finance bureaucrats. Billions in new pandemic response costs were unexplained, while finance officers refused to answer questions about the ballooning costs. Bill C-2, An Act to Provide Further Support in Response to Covid-19, was the spending bill in question. It was passed in the House of Commons at 4:16 p.m. on Dec. 16, under the assumption that the policy would cost $7.4 billion. …