In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the Trudeau government spent over $800 million more than they told Canadians they would in that year’s budget, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO).
The PBO, which provides non-partisan analysis on government finances, said in a recent report that the government spent more than they claimed they would, and that the government’s projections on the economy may be more optimistic than it should be.
“PBO’s estimate of the budgetary deficit in 2018-19 ($15.7 billion) is $0.8 billion higher compared to Budget 2019,” the report reads.
“Our higher deficit estimate reflects lower expected revenue in 2018-19.”
The PBO also estimates that the future outlook provided by the government will also be hundreds of millions off.
“Over 2019-20 to 2023-24, PBO is projecting budgetary deficits that are $0.7 billion higher per year, on average, compared to Budget 2019,” they said.
The reason for these new estimates is an economy running weaker due to a battered energy sector and lower tax revenues.
What is even more worrying is that the PBO is projecting a slowdown in the Canadian economy, from 1.8% in 2018 to 1.6% in 2019, thus hurting the national pocketbook even more.
The PBO directly related this slowdown to the sharp decrease in oil prices in 2018, which continues to wreak havoc on the Canadian economy well into 2019.
Trudeau is one of the highest spending Prime Ministers in Canadian history.
This year the Trudeau government will spend about $8,600 per Canadian on government programs, the highest since the Great Recession.
Trudeau’s spending has increased Canada’s per person debt by 5.6%, bringing it to $32,589.
The last time a Prime Minister increased the federal debt in a time without war or recession before Trudeau was Mackenzie Bowell in 1895.
Any new increase to the deficit, if not reconciled, will only push the total debt up more.
The Trudeau government has yet to present a plan to Canadians on how they will balance the budget.
