Could Manitoba's debt really be going up by $50 a second?

Well, if you turn to page 22 in the 2011 provincial budget (click here to view) you'll see that net debt was $13.244 billion in 2010/11 and is expected to climb to $14.804 billion in 2011/12.

In other words, that's an increase of $1.560 billion this year alone.

Take that $1.560 billion and divide in the number of seconds in a year (60 seconds x 60 minutes x 24 hours x 365 days = 31,536,000 seconds) and you've got $49.47.

However, that figure doesn't account for Hydro debt or pension liabilities. Throw in those obligations and total debt is increasing at a whopping $69.29 per second.

But don't stop there...remember this is an election year. That means it's safe to assume that plenty of post-budget spending announcements weren't actually included in the budget forecast - greater than expected flood related costs, a possible convention centre expansion, etc. Thus we can safely say that government debt, not including hydro debt, is increasing by at least $50 per second.

No doubt defenders of the government's spending track record will claim the debt increase is due to the economic slowdown. However, if you once again look at the net debt line on page 22 and let your eyes wander over all the way to the far right side of the page, you'll see net debt has actually been increasing for several years now.

To learn more about how the province's wild spending ways could be brought under control without cutting back on services people actually care about (health care, highway repair, etc.) give this blog post a quick read - click here.