VICTORIA, BC: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today took the wraps off its National Debt Clock at a news conference in Victoria, BC and announced a major national tour and campaign in support of balanced budgets.
The large aluminum clock which measures 6 foot 6 inches high and 12 feet long displays both the per second increase in public debt and the per person figure. A customized trailer has been built for the tour which allows for a rolling display of the clock.
“It’s time to wake up,” said CTF federal director Kevin Gaudet. “The last time the federal government ran deficits, they continued unabated for 27 consecutive years. We know from past experience that unless taxpayers demand lawmakers balance budgets, the country will once again spiral into prolonged deficits, a permanent increase in the size of government and higher taxes to pay for it all.”
Gaudet expressed concern over the commonly held misconception that Canada is somehow immune from happenings in European countries and that our debt is less serious an issue than it is in the United States. “When the debt of the provinces and municipalities is taken into account, Canada’s debt position isn’t much different than that of the United States,” Gaudet asserted.
“The bottom line is that the federal government is borrowing $124 million a day and the provinces are borrowing millions more. This is neither responsible nor sustainable. Rather than political spin or dubious claims of gains from so-called ‘stimulus’ spending, our governments need to urgently change course. The federal government alone is shelling out $93 million a day in interest. What are we doing?”
The National Debt Clock is scheduled to visit nine provinces, wrapping up in Halifax the last week of March 2011. The clock has changeable face plates and in many provinces the CTF plans to dedicate a day to displaying and discussing respective provincial debts.
An older version of the clock was toured across Canada by the CTF during the 1990s at a time the Wall Street Journal dubbed Canada an “honorary member of the Third World in the unmanageability of its debt.” CTF efforts at the time paved the way for then-Finance Minister Paul Martin’s historic 1995 federal budget that cut spending and ushered in an era of economic prosperity for Canada.
The 2011 Debt Clock Tour will create public awareness, elevate the importance of balanced budgets as a public policy priority and provide a means for the public to engage lawmakers.
New Development Director Courtenay Vermeulen outlined some of the new technologies that will be used during the campaign: “We have created a dedicated campaign page at
DebtClockTour.ca that will include an interactive map of the clock’s travels with daily postings, ways to contact lawmakers, a petition and a debt clock widget that can be downloaded to a website or handheld. Comments can be posted on the CTF’s campaign page, our Facebook page (TaxpayerDOTcom) or through the Twitter hash tag (#debtclock). Finally, we are inviting people to text ‘debtclock’ to 70259 for campaign updates and interaction directly to their handhelds.”
The budget for the campaign is $64,633 with half allocated to equipment including the clock constructed at OES Scoreboards in London, Ontario (an official supplier to the NBA) and the remainder toward costs associated with taking the clock across Canada. Donations to the CTF are not tax deductible.
For a detailed BC tour schedule click
HERE.
