OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is criticizing the Conservatives’ platform costing document for projecting more spending than the 2021 Liberal budget. 

“Any credible plan to fix the federal government’s finances needs to include ways to save money and there’s none of that in the Conservative platform,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director with the CTF. “The Liberal government’s spending was irresponsible, yet the Conservatives want to increase spending beyond the Trudeau government’s last budget by billions of dollars.”

The Conservative platform includes about $50 billion in new spending. This is in addition to the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s baseline that “incorporates Budget 2021 measures, as well as measures announced after the budget, up to and including July 30, 2021.” That means the Conservatives plan to increase spending beyond levels projected in the Trudeau government’s 2021 budget. 

On its current trajectory, the federal government isn’t projected to balance its budget until 2070, according to the PBO data. 

Even before the pandemic, the federal government had already increased its per person spending to all-time highs in 2018, according to the Fraser Institute. 

Prior to the election, Conservative members of Parliament criticized the Liberal government’s spending. Less than a year ago, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole warned Canadians the Trudeau government “seems like they’re willing to bankrupt a nation in order to win the next election.”

“The Conservatives said the Liberal government spent too much, but the Conservatives are planning to spend even more,” said Terrazzano. “The Liberal government has a huge spending problem and the Conservatives are planning to spend more.”