Right, Left and Centre: The Politics of Some Canadians by Dave Jaffe. Chapter 30, Part Three A Deficit Hawk Who Wanted Deep Cuts.

     A Deficit Hawk Who Wanted Deep Cuts - Part Three.


    In the late 20th century Ruth Gelfand's world looked good. The governments of most of the western world made deep cuts to social programs. The economy of the world had survived a crisis in East Asia. Everything was going well until there was a massive downturn or near collapse in the high tech sector of the stock market. Still this was followed by an economic boom. And Gelfand forecast a continuing growth of the economy.
      Yet then in the years 2007 and 20008 the western economy and then large parts of the world went into what was called 'A Great Recession'. In fact it was a near depression that left millions of people around the world without a job. "Ireland is in bad shape," an Irish immigrant said in Vancouver in 2011. "that's why I came to Canada." Not only Ireland but dozens of other countries including Greece, Italy France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the U.S. and parts of Canada fell inot a massive slump.
     Still, Sandra Gelfand felt fulfilled even if she worried too about the terrible slump. Canada did eventually emerge from this terrible downturn and she had stopped the Canadian governments from spending too much money. She had done well for herself and her business allies. She remained a hard core conservative and a happy woman.