Recent figures by the federal government’s fiscal monitor states that the Trudeau government ran a deficit of $48.5 billion between April and July of this year.
According to Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) Alberta Director Kevin Lacey, Canadians can expect the Liberals to continue spending taxpayer funds while not addressing the government’s growing debt and deficit issues.
“With the Liberals, it’s just more borrowing after more borrowing. They talk big about how much they can spend but we never hear a peep about balancing the budget or finding savings within government,” said Lacey in an emailed statement.
“During the pandemic, families across Canada have had to cut back, control their own spending and live within their means. The Liberal government did the exact opposite, they ran out and spent money they didn’t have.”
The findings show how COVID-19 program spending declined about $58.1 billion from the same period last year when the Liberals ran a deficit of $148.6 billion.
Additionally, public debt charges grew by $7.8 billion which was a $1 billion jump from the year prior.
“The Liberals told Canadians they would balance the budget by 2019, but they missed that by a country mile, now the Parliamentary budget officer projects we won’t hit a balanced budget for nearly five decades. Liberals owe it to Canadians to provide a realistic plan for how they plan to balance the budget, that won’t take 50 years, and start chipping away at the $1-trillion dollar federal debt,” Lacey told True North.
Despite the government’s ballooning COVID-19 spending, Canada’s private sector took a toll during the pandemic while government jobs and pay raises surged.
According to a CTF report from earlier this month, 312,825 federal workers received a pay raise between 2020 and 2021.
“Canadians have experienced a tale of two pandemics: one full of private sector pain, the other full of bureaucrat pay increases,” CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano said.
“We need politicians and bureaucrats to help shoulder the burden because it can’t just be struggling families and businesses forced to pay back the $1-trillion federal debt.”
