Cooking the Books Carney

Some of us, in Ontario, have seen Mr. Carney’s attempt at bookkeeping before. Actually, we’ve seen it twice and no one explains it better than Bonnie Lysyk during the Ontario Liberals abuse of Ontarians during the days of the purported “Fair Hydro Plan.”

Now, I truly remember this as I presented at Committee on the Bill, but this is about the comparison between what the Wynne Liberals did with their bookkeeping in Ontario in conjunction with what Mr. Carney wants to do with the federal books.

I will be adding in to what Ms. Lysyk states, in her May 24, 2017 statement, on the skewed accounting principles that the Liberal government was implementing to show the comparison to Carney’s bookkeeping…

“The government of today plans to borrow about $??? billion to cover the … shortfall from ratepayers, but it does not want to reflect the overall impact of these borrowings on the consolidated financial statements of the Province, which includes the …sector. It plans to record anticipated revenue as an asset to offset borrowings in its consolidated financial statements. As a result, there will be no impact on net debt on the [federal government’s] balance sheet. As well, this legislation is designed so that there will be no impact on the [federal government’s] calculation of the annual surplus or deficit. Today, like in 2000, we believe this sets a dangerous precedent.

… For obvious reasons, this is not allowed under Canadian public-sector accounting standards. As we know, accounting deals with past transactions, not future ones. So to anticipate that … costs in the future and to use legislation to make this potential future benefit an asset is also not allowed under Canadian public-sector accounting standards.

So what’s the bottom line? I would not be doing my job as Auditor General if I said that creating assets through legislation is acceptable.

Under this Bill, the government’s policy decision to borrow money to subsidize [future capital] will not affect the [federal government’s] … net debt or annual deficit. This legislated accounting is not in accordance with Canadian public-sector accounting standards. These standards are there to ensure that the financial reporting of government policy decisions reflects common sense: borrowings are debt; unearned revenue is not an asset today; and when your expenses exceed your revenues, you incur a deficit. Such common sense and the principle of substance over form should prevail in the financial reporting of government policy decisions.”^[1]

And what does Mr. Carney want to do? He wants to set up 2 sets of books. One for operations of government and the other for capital projects. The operations of government books will be the budget books and the Capital projects will be separate so Canadians will never know and/or understand what the true deficit will be. Not to mention that this deficit will be pushed down the road so that your children and grandchildren will be paying for it…just like the “Fair Hydro Plan” in Ontario.

The Liberals in Ontario, making reference to the Auditor Generals statements, were merely cooking the books so they wouldn’t have to show the deficit they were accruing and that is exactly what Mr. Carney will be doing if he is allowed to.

Said it before and saying it again…he doesn’t understand government and he doesn’t understand he is accountable to the people – including showing Canadians all of the debt he will be incurring on our and our children’s backs…

Cooking the books Carney…

Until next time… [attached please find Bonnie Lysyk’s statement from 2017]

Footnotes:

1. Remarks by Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk to The Standing Committee on Justice Policy on Bill 132 Ontario Fair Hydro Plan Act, 2017, May 24, 2017

Elizabeth Marshall——Bio and Archives Author Director of Research - Ontario Landowners Association Past Chair - Canadian Justice Review Board Legal/Legislative/General Researcher - MPs, MPPs, Municipal Officials, Lawyers, etc. I am not a lawyer and do not give legal advice.