Cutting public spending, Canadian style

It first aired a couple of nights ago but, as Benedict Brogan says, this ITN news feature on how the Canadian government cut public spending by 20 percent in the late-1990s is well worth watching:

P.S. I doubt we’ll be seeing repeats of the hospital demolition which comes at 2:19.

P.P.S. Perhaps the most striking part of the film is Tom Bradby’s conclusion: “We [in Britain] are almost certainly going to have to make this journey.  But have British politicians – any of them – really even begun to prepare us?”  Why so striking?  Well, because it’s another sign that the media are countenancing even greater cuts than the politicians are talking about.  In a way, this could help the next government: it helps create an atmosphere in which the public expects, and perhaps even demands, tough action.