OTTAWA, ON: Canada’s debt will hit $1 trillion within weeks, according to the Fall Economic Statement, and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to release a credible budget to control spending.
“A trillion dollars in debt is a sadly historic milestone and our kids and grandkids will be stuck with these bills,” said Aaron Wudrick, Federal Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “It’s inexcusable that the Trudeau government has gone more than 20 months without so much as presenting a budget because Canadians deserve a credible plan to get runaway spending under control.”
The fall economic statement shows that the federal deficit is projected to be $381.6 billion for 2020-21, meaning that the federal debt will hit $1 trillion within weeks. Even before this update, Canada’s deficit was projected to grow more than any other G20 country, according an analysis by the National Bank of Canada.
The fiscal update includes $100 billion in so-called stimulus funding to be spent after the economy begins recovering.
“Alarmingly, there are no fiscal targets, and the government actually pledged to add another $100 billion in debt after the pandemic ends, effectively committing to spend money before it even knows what to spend it on,” said Wudrick. “There doesn’t seem to be any place where the Trudeau government has even tried to save money and there’s no tax relief. A pandemic isn’t a free pass to cynically increase spending on everything, especially when taxpayers are struggling.”
