Ottawa Journal: The Liberals’ Uncontrollable Debt

July 8, 2016 · 0 Comments

By David Tilson, MP

Dufferin-Caledon

Last week, the Parliamentary Budget Officer issued the Fiscal Sustainability Report 2016.

This report provides an assessment of the long-term sustainability of federal and provincial government debt (whether the debt will remain stable under current taxation and spending trends).

The 2016 report finds that since last year, Canada’s overall public debt has become unsustainable, primarily due to higher federal spending. Public debt is growing uncontrollably and the Liberal government will have no choice but to raise taxes.

The PBO also warned that, given increasing public debt, the single biggest challenge facing the Liberal government is funding health care.

The PBO confirmed that reckless Liberal spending is causing public debt to grow uncontrollably. Borrowed money must be paid back, and the only way the Liberals can do that is by raising taxes. In fact, the Liberals have already raised taxes on middle-class families, students and small business owners.

Less than a year into their mandate, the Liberals have seriously weakened Canada’s finances, leaving no room to respond to a crisis like the Fort McMurray wildfire or an economic slump due to the Brexit.

While the previous Conservative Government offset rising provincial debt by balancing the federal budget, the Liberals just cannot help themselves when it comes to spending taxpayer money.

Conservatives will continue to hold the Liberal Government accountable for its spending binge. The Liberal government’s out-of-control spending shows disregard for the fact that the cost of essential health care services is increasing.

Provinces and territories will eventually need more money to address rising health care costs, and given the current state of the country’s finances, the Liberals will be forced to either raise taxes further, or cut health care services.

It must be remembered that the previous Conservative government created jobs during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Canada had the best job creation and economic growth record among G7 countries. We lowered taxes to their lowest point in 50 years, with a typical family of four saving almost $7,000 per year, and we balanced budgets after running a targeted stimulus program that created and maintained approximately 200,000 jobs. We kept our promise to balance the budget and left the Liberals with a surplus.

On the other hand, the Liberal government is increasing taxes. The Liberals recently introduced a CPP tax-hike on youth, middle-class families and small business owners. Budget 2016 also increased taxes on Canadian families and small businesses by cancelling the Children`s Fitness Tax Credit, and the Children`s Art Tax Credit, keeping the small businesses tax rate at 10.5% instead of lowering it to the scheduled 9% and ending the hiring credit for small businesses.

The Liberals are also bent on deficit spending. Despite not being in a recession, the Liberals are borrowing billions of dollars and plunging the country into deficit to pay for their out-of-control spending.