OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today released its 2016 pre-budget submission to the federal government. CTF Federal Director Aaron Wudrick appeared as a witness at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance yesterday to speak to the submission.

The CTF is calling on the Trudeau government to maintain balanced budgets, pay down federal debt and put an end to corporate welfare spending. 

“This government has promised 'real change'" said Wudrick, “The last government plunged the country into a deficit that took six years to climb out of. It would be strange for the new government, which was highly critical of that record, to essentially put us back in an identical position of massive deficits while racking up tens of billions of dollars in additional public debt."

As of 2016, Canada's federal public debt stands at $616 billion with interest payments in the last year alone costing Canadians taxpayers approximately $26 billion (which is more than the government spent on National Defence). Since 1990, Canadians have spent $1.3 trillion dollars on paying interest on public debt.

In addition to balanced budgets and debt repayment, the CTF ten-point submission calls for:

• Ending "tax-on-tax" double taxation for goods such as gasoline;
• Ending all spending on corporate welfare and 'regional development';
• Reducing the political party donation tax credit;
• Resisting any demands for new sugar or fat taxes;
• Passing a Truth in Budgeting Act;
• Undertaking a core spending review to identify $15 billion in waste by 2017-18;
• Controlling public sector pay and benefits; and
• Major reform of Canada's Employment Insurance system

“These recommendations reflect a common-sense, prudent approach template for governing, and emphasizes that we cannot borrow and spend our way into prosperity,” said Wudrick. “The government must resist the temptation to avoid making tough decisions by running gigantic deficits, and forcing future generations to pay for their reckless spending."

The CTF's 2016 federal pre-budget submission can be downloaded HERE.