The increased size of government coupled with unprecedented spending in response to the pandemic could serve to hinder economic recovery efforts, according to a new report. Moreover, based on the growth of government in relation to per-person spending and the size of the economy, further excessive expansion of government post-COVID could impede prosperity for Canadians and their families and slow economic growth, the report found. Fraser Institute economists Jake Fuss and Nathanial Li note in their report that the increased spending actually began before the pandemic, with per-person spending jumping from $8,063 to $9,500 between 2015 and 2019. “This means the Trudeau government increased real per-person federal government spending by nearly 18 percent during its first term in office, and before any recession,” they write. They conclude that federal spending as a share of the economy increased from 14.5 percent to 16.2 percent between 2015 and 2019, and government spending …