After promising a budget of “fiscal restraint,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday delivered the 2023 Liberal budget that hikes the federal deficit by 31% this year, to $40.1 billion, up from her prediction of $30.6 billion less than five months ago.
After briefly projecting a balanced budget with a $4.5 billion surplus by 2027-28 in her fall economic statement on Nov. 3, Freeland and her boss, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, have returned to their default position of doubling down on debt in the bizarre belief nations can spend themselves rich.
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Now, Freeland is projecting a $14-billion deficit in the 2027-28 fiscal year, which is even higher than the “downside scenario” of $8.3 billion she projected in November.
Under this budget, Canadians will shell out $43.9 billion this year simply paying interest on $1.22 trillion of total public debt.
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By 2027-28, Freeland projects, Canadians will pay $50.3 billion annually in interest on $1.31 trillion of total debt.
Incredibly, Freeland claimed in her budget speech that, “By exercising fiscal restraint, we are ensuring that we can continue to invest in Canadians and in the Canadian economy for years to come — just as we have done since 2015.”
She said the Liberals are reducing projected government spending by more than $15 billion, which means they have to find that much money in savings or this year’s deficit could be even higher.
The Trudeau Liberals have never delivered a balanced budget, going back to their election promises in 2015.
During that campaign, Trudeau said that under his leadership Canada would have three years of modest deficits followed by a $1 billion surplus in the 2019 fiscal year — the year before the pandemic hit.
Trudeau missed every one of those targets, leading up to a $39.4 billion deficit in 2019.
As Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation noted, “this budget is giving taxpayers big deficits, more money wasted on interest charges and higher taxes. This government doesn’t care about fiscal prudence or helping taxpayers.”
On April 1 — this Saturday — the Trudeau government will hike its federal carbon price by 30% to $65 per tonne of emissions from the current $50 per tonne, raising the cost of almost all goods and services.