Liberals maxing out Canada’s credit card

During the 2015 federal election, candidate Justin Trudeau promised that after three modest deficits, originally forecasted at $24.1 billion and which now have ballooned to an astronomical $72.8 billion over the Trudeau government’s first three years in office, that the government would return to balance in 2019.

Now, this month in the House of Commons, the federal government voted against a motion which called on the government to reveal in what year the budget will be balanced. Shortly thereafter, Finance Minister Bill Morneau revealed that the budget would not be balanced in 2019 and his finance department reports that the budget will not be balanced until 2045.

It is worth noting that both Cape Breton MPs Mark Eyking and Rodger Cuzner voted against the motion which called upon revealing which year the budget will be balanced.

Our federal government should look no further than to the 1990s and 2000s when Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Finance Minister Paul Martin paid down the debt. They had the foresight to know that the good times do not last forever. By comparison, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the percentage change in (inflationadjusted) debt per person over prime ministerial tenures without a world war or economic downturn has increased by five per cent per person. Under Chretien, it decreased by 13 per cent. Under Martin it decreased eight per cent.

Through paying down the debt under the Chretien, Martin, and even the early Harper governments, the country was structurally sound and did not contently live in a culture of deficits and spending during the good times. They instead learned from the mistakes of the past which saw the deficit spending and debt accumulation reach colossal levels.

The government frequently cites the debt-to-gdp ratio of being friendly and a strong economic indicator, and they are correct. However, I suggest that this indicator is used to divert attention from the actual problem of deficit spending and total debt accumulation. The debt-to-gdp ratio that the federal government cites also does not reflect the true debt-to-gdp of the country when including provincial debt. It also does not reflect the actual number of government debt per person in Newfoundland and Labrador which is $31,795 and counting. Budgets were never meant to balance themselves. It requires political courage to balance a budget and control spending. It’s easy to max out the credit card. It is hard to pay it off.

I hope both Eyking and Cuzner read this and think long and hard before they continue to support mortgaging the future of young Canadians or at least justify why their government is continuing its reckless spending and culture of debt accumulation. It was the Liberal Party of Canada’s promise to balance the budget in 2019. Will that promise be kept?

Brandon Ellis

Whitney Pier