By Rebel News | Created at 2024-11-25 20:41:41 | Updated at 2024-11-25 22:24:50
1 hour ago
The Trudeau government says harsh criticism of its deficit spending constitutes unparliamentary language. The feds took issue with a Conservative MP saying they’re “pissing away taxpayers’ money.”
The federal deficit has twice changed for the 2024/25 fiscal year, from $39.8 billion during the April budget to $46.4 billion at the latest October Budget Office report.
“That’s the Liberal scandal,” said Conservative MP Corey Tochor. “They find more ways of pissing away taxpayers’ money at every chance they get.” His remarks prompted a review by the House Speaker, which is in the works.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland previously claimed her government could spend more without bankrupting taxpayers. “I am simply saying the Budget Office report was very, very clear,” she said.
Cabinet, meanwhile, ignored advice from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), with this year’s deficit fast approaching $50 billion. Liberal MPs dismissed claims of wasteful spending.
Tax relief, through one-time tax rebates of $250 to a two-month GST suspension on essential goods, is expected to torpedo the deficit by at least $5 billion, reported Blacklock’s.
“Driving up the deficit is only going to make inflation worse,” Tochor told the Commons. “There is no money left to pay the bills,” he added.
The Conservative MP accused his government colleagues of printing money with no end in sight. “We’re in a cost of living crisis because the Liberals have kept spending more and more money,” Tochor said.
The Department of Finance had claimed it had no choice in raising the debt ceiling from $1.83 trillion to $2.13 trillion in amendments tabled to the Borrowing Authority Act. That marks a trillion-dollar increase over the previous three years.
“Today we are turning to our younger generation and those who care about them,” Freeland told reporters in April. “Our government is at your service.”
The finance minister previously said she would limit spending but failed to clarify those limits. “They are massively overblowing their targets,” said MP Tochor.
Minister Freeland, in a 2020 speech for the Toronto Global Forum, said cabinet would have to cut spending at some point but did not clarify a spending limit.
“There are no free lunches,” she said at the time. “Our fiscally expansive approach to fighting the coronavirus cannot and will not be infinite.”
The federal government has not balanced the budget since 2007.
Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
