OTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today re-launched its federal debt clock, at
debtclock.ca, in response to federal politicians taking Canada back into a deficit after 11 years of surpluses. The federal government projects a deficit of $1.1-billion for 2008-09 and $34-billion in 2009-10, adding no less than $84-billion to the debt over the next four years.
“Deficit financing is like fiscal child abuse where bad spending decisions today hurt the taxpayers of tomorrow because they are the ones left to pay off the large and growing federal debt,” said CTF Federal Director, Kevin Gaudet. “During the last federal election all political parties promised to balance the budget, so what Canada needs now is a serious dialogue about how to do just that. Saying yes to spending is easy. Saying no is difficult. Politicians need to make tough decisions now, for the sake of future taxpayers.”
The CTF’s debt clock was first launched in 1993 in an effort to highlight the dangers of deficit financing and the need for balanced budgets. The new clock, like the original, displays the per-second increase in debt. While the original showed the debt share for each Canadian family, the new clock shows the debt burden for each individual Canadian. The CTF drove the original debt clock around the country during its campaign against continued deficits. It was retired in 1997 when the federal government finally balanced the budget.
The CTF’s new debt clock is built for the new web generation. It is available on-line with its own distinct web address: [url=http://www.debtclock.ca]http://www.debtclock.ca[/url]
Currently (for fiscal year 2008-09) the debt is growing at just over $34.88 per second; $125,570.78 per hour; and $3,013,698.63 per day. When the new fiscal year and the new budget take effect on April 1st, 2009, due to a huge projected deficit, the debt clock will accelerate adding debt at a new rate of $1,068.62 per second; $3,847,081.96 per hour and $92,328,767.12 per day.
Gaudet concluded, “the CTF will continue to campaign against government over-spending and deficits. The debt clock is a helpful tool to get out the message that deficits are damaging to the country’s finances.”
