The federal government under Trudeau is bigger — but not as big as it used to be

And to account for the fact that the country the federal government serves is always growing, it might make more sense to measure the size of the public service as a share of the total population.

After several rounds of broad tax reductions — including the Harper government's decision to cut the GST by two points — total federal revenues came to 14.0 per cent of GDP in 2015.

"The point I make to people is, Canadians actually kind of wanted all of that new spending," Tyler Meredith, a former senior policy adviser in the Trudeau government, said in an interview this week.

He prefers to talk about funding for the Canada Infrastructure Bank or the public service's spending on management consultants and projects like ArriveCan.

But the public service's use of outside contractors suggests that, whatever the size of the government, the talent and resources it has on hand also matter — and solving that problem might end up requiring more investment.

Shortly after coming to office, the Trudeau government raised taxes on those earning $200,000 or more, but since then it has largely focused on closing loopholes and ensuring compliance.