OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) reacted to the today’s fiscal update from Finance Minister Bill Morneau revealing that the Department of Finance is predicting a $18.4 billion deficit for 2016-17 even before the addition of any new spending.

“Governing is about making tough choices and it’s time this government prioritized its spending plans,” said CTF Federal Director Aaron Wudrick. “Pretending they can simply proceed as they had planned, in spite of reduced revenues, would be reckless.”

Wudrick noted that the Liberal government made firm promises to limit deficits to $10 billion per year and return to a balanced budget by 2019-20, and has now backed away from both of those promises less than six months later.

“There was no asterisk attached to those campaign promises that said ‘unless the economy isn’t as rosy as we expect’,” said Wudrick.

Wudrick also noted that the huge deficit projection is yet another reason for the government to refuse a taxpayer bailout for beleaguered aerospace company Bombardier.

“The cupboard is beyond bare,” said Wudrick “When the government cannot even afford to pay for existing programs and services, forcing Canadians to borrow an extra billion dollars to bail out a money-losing corporation would be an enormous slap in the face.”