You don’t sign up for every credit card that gets offered to you. You don’t max out every card that you currently own. And you certainly don’t respond to a pay cut by going on a shopping spree.

You spend your money wisely...well, for the most part.

On the other hand, someone is out spending money that you simply don’t have.

It’s unfortunate you had to hear it this way, but Premier Selinger is just not that into your style of responsible spending.

Consider that the provincial government is expected to see $10.8 billion in revenue this year, but will spend over $11.3 billion. That’s over $500 million more than what it has.

How does that work you ask? Instead of throwing out those credit card applications that come in the mail, the provincial government signed up for them and proceeded to max them all out. Well, they didn’t borrow the money through credit cards, but you get the point.

Sure it’s an election year and the Premier is spending more than usual, but he has actually been a big spender for years. Pull out his government’s 2011-12 budget and turn to page 22. You’ll see summary net debt has steadily increased from $14.3 billion in 2006-07 to $18.9 billion in 2011-12.

So why should you care? Well, the less debt the government has, the less it has to spend on interest payments. Obviously, the less it has to spend on interest payments, the less it has to charge you in taxes.

Some say the province is far from bankruptcy so it’s ok to rack up more debt. But would you go out and spend more simply because there is room on your credit limit? Clearly, if you’re the type of person who likes to keep credit card debt low and is keen to pay off the mortgage, the provincial government’s approach to spending is not for you.

Instead of focussing on the basics, the Premier and crew are spending truck loads of money on projects that aren’t urgent or in some cases necessary at all.

Consider that they’re spending millions on a new park at the floodway. No doubt it will look nice when completed, but with a park nearby at Bird’s Hill, is a new park at the floodway needed?

Speaking of Bird’s Hill, it already receives thousands of visitors each year and is a hit with Manitobans. So why then does the province need to shovel an additional $22 million towards it?

And then there are lots of little things like a new $100,000 statue to salute Ukrainian-Canadian women. Nothing against Ukrainian women, but is this such an urgent priority that it necessitates going further into debt

Unfortunately, those figures don’t include additional flood fighting costs.

The good news is that this year is an election year. You have the opportunity to tell politicians exactly how to act. And if they don’t like your responsible approach to spending? Well, tell them you’re just not that into hiring them for the job.