The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has launched NBDebtClock.ca to bring attention to the growing New Brunswick debt and to urge Finance Minister Blaine Higgs to “stop this clock.”

“The government has a choice in tomorrow’s budget: address the growing New Brunswick debt or risk putting the province further in the hole,” said Kevin Lacey, Atlantic Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “You can only borrow so much before you go broke.”

In December 2013, the Department of Finance predicted the net debt of the Province would grow by $587.2 million. That means the debt is growing by $1.6 million every day, $67,031 per hour, $1,117 per minute or $18.62 every second.

The last budget predicted taxpayers would pay over $660 million dollars just in interest payments on the debt alone. More money is spent on interest on the debt than is budgeted for 21 of the 24 departments in the government. Interest payments will grow if borrowing rates increase in the future.

“A good part of what current taxpayers shell out is just to pay off interest on money the government spent in the past. Just as our generation is stuck paying for the last, if we continue down this road, our tax burden will eventually become our children’s problem,” added Lacey.

To reduce the debt, the CTF has been urging the government to address the growth in its spending and not to raise taxes. Between 2009-10 to 2013-14 spending is up by almost $1 billion. Since the government was elected, revenues are up by 7 per cent.

“We need the government to put its house in order and reduce its spending rather than going back to its already overburdened taxpayers looking for even more” continued Lacey.

The New Brunswick debt clock is part of the CTF’s national campaign to raise awareness about the growing government debt. There is an online debt clock for each province. In addition, the CTF has a large debt clock that travels to communities all over Canada to keep track of the overall and per person debt. You can find more information about our campaign, debt clocks and petitions at debtclock.ca