Ottawa, ON – Sandra Cobena, Conservative Shadow Minister for Treasury Board & The King’s Privy Council, released the following statement after the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) released a new report on the government’s operating budget fiscal anchor:
“Prime Minister Carney promised to spend less and invest more. The PBO’s latest report found the government is not on track to balance the ‘operating budget’ until 2029/30, there is no longer a fiscal anchor ‘on total debt accumulation,’ and there is no way to test if their spending will generate any return on investment.
“The PBO found that some classifications of operating spending and capital investment appear ‘contradictory’ and ‘constrained’ the PBO’s ability to assess the government’s fiscal anchors. This is exactly what the PBO and Conservatives warned about when the Liberals first abandoned accepted international accounting standards for capital and operating spending.
“Regular Canadians can’t choose to divide their credit card loans into separate categories; it’s time for Mr. Carney to scrap this failed attempt to cook the books and return to the budgeting that every other government uses. All of this was yet another illusion that will cost Canadians more.
“Three-quarters of the new spending was on operations, not capital, with the PBO finding ‘the deterioration in the fiscal track therefore reflects the government’s own policy choices.’ While the Prime Minister has said he’s ahead of his own fiscal targets, the PBO reported, based on Budget 2025 and the Spring Economic Update, that the Liberals will not balance the ‘operating budget’ until 2029–30, a year later than previously promised.
“Interest on the national debt was already projected in the Spring Economic Update to cost more than $80 billion per year within four years from now, or 13 cents of every tax dollar, up from 6 cents just four years ago. That’s more than the federal government spends on public healthcare or collects in GST revenue. And that was before the PBO’s projections of increased deficits and debt.
“Mr. Carney promised restraint, but instead has delivered more spending, more deficits and more debt. Not only did the last budget abandon the debt-to-GDP fiscal anchor, but he now appears to be abandoning his own vaguely defined ‘operating budget’ fiscal anchor.
“This report confirms that the Liberals are out of touch, and Canadians are out of money. It’s time for the Liberals to start budgeting like Canadian small businesses, families, and workers have to every day. Mr. Carney must abandon his own methodology and simply stick to long-standing operating and capital definitions under the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) standards.
“Conservatives call on Mr. Carney to set clear budget targets and keep them, present a credible plan to balance operating spending by 2028–29 and restore the commitment to reduce the national debt. That’s how we can cut waste, lower the national debt and reduce taxes so Canadians can keep more of what they earn.”