Balanced Budget Legislation a Win for Taxpayers

OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today applauded the Conservative government’s pledge to introduce balanced budget legislation.

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“This is the strongest sign we’ve seen since Stephen Harper became prime minister that he means business when it comes to balancing the budget,” said CTF Federal Director Gregory Thomas. The CTF has worked for balanced budget legislation since it was founded in the 1990s. Thousands of Canadians have signed our petition demanding the federal government balance the budget and pass legislation guaranteeing balanced budgets except in times of war or natural disaster. “The CTF is calling on all political parties to support a balanced budget law with real teeth that will hold future governments to account. Fiscal prudence should not be a partisan issue,” continued Thomas. “A balanced budget law that gets ignored as soon as a new party takes power is useless.” “Does this mean that Canada will never see a budget deficit again? Probably not. But this commits the Conservative government to make good on their promise of a budget surplus by 2015,” said Thomas. “Breaking their own balanced budget law would be political suicide.” Since 2008 the Conservative government has borrowed $161 billion, bringing the federal government’s debt burden to $618 billion. Gregory Thomas, CTF Federal Director

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