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Analysing Federal Budget

Mar 24, 2016 | 2:14 PM

The Liberals campaigned during the 2015 election to run deficits capped at $10 Billion dollars. Tuesday evening’s 2016 budget presentation saw that promise torpedoed. Instead Canadians are faced with a projected deficit of $29.4 billion in the first year of this government, and large deficit plans of $115 Billion for subsequent budget cycles – with absolutely no plan to balance the books.   

The Liberal government would have you believe that Canada’s economy is in recession. It is not. If the Liberals are willing to spend $29.4 billion when Canada isn’t in recession, how can they not see that this long term runaway spending will drive us into one?

It took less than six months for the Liberals to turn a surplus of 4.3 Billion as of January 2016 (Finance Canada’s numbers) into this huge deficit. And though the Liberals campaigned on running a modest deficit, there is nothing modest about $30 billion dollars.

First nations received funding to strengthen community health care, invest in First Nations schools, ensuring safe water through water monitoring and improve water and waste water infrastructure on reserve.  Unfortunately,  while the government is turning on the spending taps in first nations communities, they ‘ve literally removed the transparency and accountability measures the Conservative government put in place to keep band members apprised of the spending on their reserves.

Middle class families have also been placated with the promise of tax free money from the government. While a slanted comparison of programs shows the Liberal plan offering more money to families, the repeal of family income splitting means many families will wind up with much less.

Over the next five years, the majority of the $12 Billion in infrastructure funding will not be spent on typical infrastructure like highways or bridges but rather on nonspecific ‘green and social infrastructure’ projects. The Liberal idea of infrastructure is the kind that doesn’t create jobs.The Conservatives are supportive of tangible infrastructure spending, we also understand the need of a concrete plan, so the net result will not only be high taxes on future generations.

Unfortunately, we are witnessing the birth of long-term structural deficits, rather than the temporary cyclical spending the Liberals promised. Eventually the piper will need to be paid, and the government has only one source of income – you the taxpayer. 

Prime Minister Trudeau previously stated – “budgets will balance themselves”, but that doesn’t even hold true when he borrows the $115 Billion. As John Ivison succinctly stated “overall this budget is a broken pipeline of federal tax dollars, gushing money to numerous pet Liberal causes”.