• Trudeau government budget projects an additional $95 billion in new federal debt by 2020 – quadruple the Liberal’s own 2015 platform estimate
• By 2020, program spending to rise by $44 billion, or 16 per cent, faster than population growth and inflation
• No commitment to return to a balanced budget

OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today panned the Trudeau government’s maiden budget as a reckless dive into unnecessary deficits and increased public debt.

“If this government held a contest to pick a title for this budget, the winner would probably be ‘Spendy McDebtface’,” said CTF Federal Director Aaron Wudrick.

“The Liberals campaigned on ‘real change’ but this plan bears a striking resemblance to the last government’s ill-advised choice to plunge the country into a long string of deficits. The biggest ‘change’ on offer here is absolutely no plan to get back to a balanced budget.”

Program spending is projected to skyrocket by $44 billion, or 16 per cent, by 2020, including an immediate jump of 7 per cent for 2017.

The CTF did welcome several measures in the budget, including a shift to a means-tested childcare benefit, as well as a commitment to review the efficiency of the overall tax system. “Rather than just giving $185 million more to the Canada Revenue Agency, the government should move quickly to simplify our absurdly complicated tax system – and make it easier both for Canadians to do their taxes, and for the CRA to do their job,” said Wudrick.

Overall, Wudrick said Canadians should be deeply concerned about the additional burden that nearly $100 billion in new debt will place on future generations, and the government’s unwillingness to even present a medium-range plan to return to balance.

“There are measures in this budget that certain groups will welcome, but the fact remains we simply cannot afford to pay for them all,” said Wudrick. “This government has dodged making any difficult decisions and instead chosen to saddle future generations with the cost of billions in new spending. They are repeating the mistakes of past governments and perpetuating an expensive cycle which causes debt interest to consume $26 billion a year – money we then can’t use for programs, services or tax relief.