Canada entered the COVID-19 pandemic with a strong fiscal position, which gave it room to mitigate its economic impacts. Of interest in this paper is the history of Canada's financial position in terms of net debt as reported in the Government of Canada's annual financial statements. Net debt is a measure of fiscal sustainability that has been reported in the Government of Canada's public accounts since the country's earliest days. It created (and continues to create) a particular visibility of the “effectiveness” of the federal government's financial management and of the country's financial position at a particular point in time but also impacts future political policy. Although there were periods of sharp increases in the federal net debt over the country's history, the federal government was always able to regain control, and this has resulted in the reasonable level of net debt the country has today. This study shows how this net debt changed, was sustained over time, and was influenced by the political and economic context in which it was situated. We find evidence of its use for supporting government accountability to the population but also as an accounting measure employed by the government to influence public opinion and thereby gain support for government policy.

中文翻译：

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反映加拿大联邦政府财政管理的净债务历史

加拿大在应对新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 大流行时拥有强劲的财政状况，这为其减轻经济影响提供了空间。本文感兴趣的是加拿大政府年度财务报表中报告的以净债务计算的加拿大财务状况的历史。净债务是衡量财政可持续性的指标，自加拿大成立之初起就在加拿大政府的公共账户中进行了报告。它创造了（并将继续创造）联邦政府财务管理的“有效性”和国家在特定时间点的财务状况的特定可见性，而且还影响未来的政治政策。尽管在该国历史上曾有过联邦净债务急剧增加的时期，联邦政府总是能够重新获得控制权，这导致了该国今天的合理净债务水平。这项研究展示了这种净债务如何随着时间的推移而变化、持续，并受到其所处政治和经济背景的影响。我们发现有证据表明它不仅用于支持政府对民众负责，而且还作为政府用来影响公众舆论从而获得对政府政策的支持的会计措施。