They say that financial problems are one of the most common reasons why marriages fail.

In that respect, the Selinger government’s infighting isn’t surprising. Years of reckless spending have finally caught up with a government that had been united for so long in a blissful union.

The situation is almost like a young married couple having a great time while they racked up debt on their credit cards with trips to Mexico, a new hot tub and other luxuries. But now the credit hangover is starting to set-in and the squabbling has begun.

Over the last 15 years that the NDP have been in power, government spending has taken off like a rocket. No problem arose that the government didn’t attempt to fix with a new social program or bigger cheque. For years special interest groups would walk into the provincial legislature, ask for funding and walk out with what they wanted.

Some people pushed to give international students free health care a couple years ago and the debt-ridden government responded with a big ‘sure, why not?’ Another classic case was the government’s decision to start building a new stadium without knowing its final design, cost or who would pay what share. One would have thought the government was flush with cash.

When former Premier Gary Doer was at the helm and Greg Selinger was the province’s finance minister, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation cautioned the government each year, noting it was spending too much during the good times and not doing enough to pay down debt and put aside savings for a rainy day.

Yet, spending climbed and climbed each year, always above inflation. Not to mention, spending almost always ended up being higher than budgeted; 11 times in 12 years from 2001-2012.

Now, after 15 years of reckless spending the infighting has spilled into the public. The government’s revenues are lower than projected and expenses are higher than expected. The government’s dismal finances have reached a point that credit rating agency Moody’s has issued a large caution to the international investment community.

Earlier this year the government released their budget and announced a deficit of $357 million. That’s a far cry from the $23 million surplus they predicted they’d be running by now. When was the rosier prediction made? Just two years ago.

In an effort to fix their financial woes, the provincial government raised the provincial sales tax and claimed the money was all going towards roads and infrastructure. But it’s just not true.

Now we’re left with a government that is built on spending money, but has run out of money to spend. Major tax increases aren’t an option and polling repeatedly shows their party is in deep trouble. Like a marriage falling apart, so have the NDP. The team has panicked and they’ve turned on themselves.

Sure, the dissidents all had no problem voting for Greg Selinger’s reckless budgets when he was Finance Minister, and they all saw no problem with raising the sales tax… but that was then. Now it’s time for divorce.

.