Poilievre will appear at the CN Tower to show that, by 2030-31, the Liberals will have added $1 trillion to the national debt since taking office in 2015. Stacked in $100 bills, that debt would reach the height of the CN Tower about 1,500 times
Toronto, ON – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre warned today that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s own Spring Economic Update shows the Liberals are on track to add roughly $1 trillion to the national debt since taking power in 2015.
The update projects federal debt will reach nearly $1.63 trillion by 2031. That is roughly $1 trillion more than the debt inherited from the previous Conservative government.
“One trillion dollars. With a ‘T,’” said Poilievre. “That is the cost of a decade of Liberal credit card budgeting. They told Canadians they could spend without consequence. Now families are paying the price through higher taxes, higher inflation, higher interest costs and higher prices on the essentials of life.”
After a decade of Liberal deficits, taxes and red tape, Canada now has the lowest investment per worker, highest food price inflation, second-lowest productivity and second-highest unemployment in the G7.
This year, the federal government will spend $58.7 billion on interest on the national debt. That is more than Ottawa will collect from the GST and more than it will transfer to provinces through the Canada Health Transfer.
“The more government spends, the more things cost,” said Poilievre. “The cost of government is driving up the cost of living. Canadians are paying more for food, gas, housing and taxes because Liberals keep spending money they do not have.”
Prime Minister Carney promised to “spend less” and lower the debt-to-GDP ratio. Instead, direct program spending has increased 12.4 per cent under his watch, and the deficit has doubled from $31 billion under his predecessor to $65 billion.
That means roughly $3,400 from every Canadian family will go toward interest on the federal debt this year.
“Mark Carney sold himself as a financial genius, but he has doubled the deficit, increased spending and put more of the bill on the national credit card,” said Poilievre. “That means more money for bankers and bondholders, not doctors and nurses. More debt interest, not better services. More cost, more debt, more taxes and more of the same.”
Canadians are also seeing the impact at the gas pump. In June 2014, when oil reached roughly $100 U.S. per barrel, Canadians paid $1.38 per litre for gasoline. When oil reached a similar threshold this month, Canadians paid $1.86 per litre.
After a decade of Liberal anti-resource policies, higher taxes and inflationary deficits, Canadians are paying more for the same global oil price.
“This is what happens when a government blocks production, drives away investment and taxes everything that moves,” said Poilievre. “Canadians get punished twice: first through higher prices, then through higher taxes to pay for the spending that caused the problem.”
Conservatives will lower the cost of government to lower the cost of living. That means ending the billion-dollar Liberal gun grab and other wasteful projects, cutting back on external consultants, reducing bureaucracy, slashing foreign aid and corporate welfare, stopping handouts to bogus claimants and closing tax loopholes that allow mega-corporations like Brookfield to avoid paying their fair share.
Conservatives will also remove the barriers that block Canadian energy, resources, homes, farms, mines and private investment, so Canada can produce more, earn more and rely less on foreign countries.
“Let’s end Carney’s credit card budgeting and unleash the workers, builders, farmers, miners, truckers and entrepreneurs who make this country run,” said Poilievre. “We will lower the cost of government, lower the cost of living and make Canada affordable at home, strong at home and unbreakable abroad.”