Leaders trade jabs over fiscal prudence

Canada’s three main political leaders traded promises of budget prudence Wednesday.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair promised that a New Democrat government would deliver a balanced budget next year, no matter what.

Easier said than done, countered Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who suggested — even as he billed his party as a champion of fiscal responsibility — that balancing the books would likely be a matter of years.

And Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said what he’s been saying all along: the budget is balanced now but won’t be for long if either the NDP or the Liberals form the next government.

Asked during a campaign event in London, Ont., whether an NDP government would run a deficit, Mulcair was unequivocal: “We are not entertaining any thought of that,” he said.

Doing away with the Conservative income-splitting measure won’t produce enough extra revenue to cover his spending promises, Mulcair conceded.

He pledged Wednesday of a $40-million tax credit for businesses investing in innovative research.

Trudeau promised to give teachers a tax break on school supplies they buy.

Balancing the books will be a Liberal priority, he added, but it won’t be easy. “How many years it takes to balance that budget is what we will be talking about in the coming days and weeks.”

Harper stepped up his attacks on his main rivals as reckless spendthrifts.

“Justin Trudeau now says — now that he’s realized that budgets won’t balance themselves — he says he’s just given up trying, he’s just going to run deficits all the time anyway,” Harper said.

“And we know what the NDP plan is: they say they’ll balance the budget, but the real plan is they will bring in an avalanche of tax increases that in theory will balance the budget and in reality will wreck the economy.”

Trudeau retorted: “You just have to look at recent history. Conservatives run deficits. Liberals know how to grow the budget into balance.”