Good morning. Parliament is due to vote on the budget today. Within it is an item the government keeps telling us we need – and keeps avoiding. It’s sacrifice. That’s what we’ll talk about today.

Real estate: Falling rates and cheaper mortgages are lifting Canadian home sales, which have risen in six of the past seven months.

Taxes: The federal government intends to propose legislative amendments that would give the Canada Revenue Agency the authority to file tax returns for some low-income Canadians even without their express consent.

Manufacturing: The retreat of auto companies from Canada is raising questions about the wisdom of government subsidies.

Hi, I’m Ethan Lou, the opinion editor in Report on Business. Today, partly to annoy you, I begin with poetry:

The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: But to return, and view the cheerful skies, In this the task and mighty labour lies.

– Virgil, The Aeneid

Virgil has perfectly described debt. It is seductive. It is easy. But it’s also cruel and harsh. If you do not rein yourself in at some point, debt binds you and, in the darkness, breaks you.

Across the sea in Britain and France, we see the decay and instability wrought by debt that previous budgets piled on.

Here, Canada’s books are much better, the recent warning by the credit agency Fitch Ratings notwithstanding. And we can still borrow, yes. But should we?

Prime Minister Mark Carney has been warning that easy days are over. With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening Canada’s economy and sovereignty, we must spend more to defend both and less on the comforts of social programs and government largesse. We must make “sacrifices,” Carney said.

The budget, though, offered little sacrifice. It cut the civil service, but there wasn’t much beyond that in terms of cuts. No major tax hikes either. Meanwhile, the budget added nearly $90-billion in net new spending. How is Ottawa paying for that? It’s borrowing the money, pushing the bill onto future taxpayers.

These are times of crisis. We must rightfully spend and spend big. But when we burden the next generation with debt, that’s not sacrifice. Instead, we should pay for today’s spending today.

This is the thrust of my column this week, the first in our revived Prosperity’s Path series. You might remember this series from last year, when the scholar Dan Breznitz surveyed Canada’s economic weaknesses and offered blunt guidance on how to fix them. The problems Breznitz identified back then haven’t gone anywhere. In fact, with relations with the United States deteriorating and global instability rising, they’ve gotten worse. This is why we’re bringing the series back.

The solution in today’s column is, admittedly, not one that anyone likes to say out loud: Canada needs to raise the goods and services tax, which many economists say is the least disruptive way to raise revenues.

If we believe the threats facing Canada are real, and that investing now is necessary, then we need to pay for those investments honestly, rather than slipping the invoice under the door for future taxpayers to find.

Markets are poised to end 2025 with solid gains and stable borrowing costs, despite businesses and investors having spent the year focused on policy risk and disruption. A so-called “trash rally” that is most obvious in the small cap universe, for example, has left many scratching their heads. The Russell 2000 Index of U.S. small caps – which includes many loss-making firms – shows that the stocks leading the gains share traits such as low share price, high volatility, heavy short seller interest and weak balance sheets.

• Read more: Markets have been facing down the year’s upheavals with puzzling ease

By the numbers: The October consumer price index takes centre stage today. Economists expect headline inflation to ease to about 2.1 per cent as gas prices fall, with food inflation holding near September’s 3.8 per cent pace. Housing starts and resales are also due this morning.