The Fraser Institute has found that government spending was five times greater over the 58 year period between 1965 and 2023.

The think tank made the calculation by adjusting for inflation and population.

Co-Author Alex Whalen says the data paints a “particularly bleak picture for Newfoundland and Labrador” and shows that spending increased dramatically as oil revenue rose.

“Particularly since the oil boom of the late 90s and the escalation of the oil industry. Much of our research has shown that that’s been funneled into higher and higher levels of government spending, and the management of that revenue has resulted in higher and higher levels of provincial debt.” He told the Tim Powers Show, “what we see in this study is various premiers have contributed different amounts to this spending run-up, but certainly there’s been a huge run-up over time. Although there’s been some reductions in recent years, Newfoundland and Labrador’s spending remains near all-time highs and remains the highest of any province.”

The highest spending premiers since 1965 according to the Fraser Institute are Danny Williams and Joey Smallwood.