Debt incurred by the federal government was already at a record high before COVID-19 struck Canada, according to a new study, which argues that the escalating spending and deficits in the five years before 2020 has seriously exacerbated the country’s current fiscal challenges. “The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt worsened Ottawa’s fiscal challenges, but it did not create them. Imprudent spending by the federal government in the years leading up to COVID added billions in debt before the pandemic struck,” said Jake Fuss, co-author and senior economist at the Fraser Institute, in a March 1 press release. The study, titled “Ottawa’s Pattern of Excessive Spending and Persistent Deficits,” finds that prior to the pandemic, the Liberal government had accumulated $160 billion in debt—an amount that exceeds above and beyond the debt that would have been incurred had the government restrained their spending to the rate of economic growth.  Citing data from …