Wynne's Liberals addicted to spending
By
Christina Blizzard, Queen's Park Columnist First posted: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 09:55 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, July 19, 2016 09:57 PM EDT
TORONTO - It’s like giving irresponsible teenagers a credit card with no limit.
This province is hemorrhaging red ink. We’re so deep in debt, in four years our accumulated debt will be $350 billion — $50 billion more than it is now.
This government, with its total disregard for fiscal prudence, lied to us when they said they’d balance the books by 2017-18.
It ain’t gonna happen — not unless they sell off the LCBO and Ontario Power Generation, and turn Queen’s Park into condos.
The Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne spends wildly on everything and anything.
You want full-time kindergarten? Sure. A subway to Vaughan? No problem. Take one to Richmond Hill as well.
Waste a billion on eHealth here, scrap a couple of gas plants for another $1 billion there. Throw cash at every problem that crops up.
Lavish massive pay hikes on your union buddies. Sprinkle cash like pixie dust. Squander millions on the Ornge air ambulance scandal.
Spend like there’s no tomorrow.
That’s the picture painted of the province’s debt by Financial Accountability Officer Stephen LeClair in a report released Tuesday.
We’re drowning in debt.
The credit card is maxed out. We need another credit card just to pay the interest on the first one.
Interest rates are at historic low rates right now. If they rise, our borrowing costs will soar. If credit rating companies view us as a risk, our credit rating will be downgraded — and we’ll pay even more to borrow.
LeClair points out the third biggest expense for the province after health care and education is debt servicing.
If we had a Ministry of Debt, it would be the third largest in government — ahead of post-secondary education. All our universities and community colleges combined cost less than the money we’re piddling down the drain to service the debt these clowns have racked up.
PC critic Vic Fedeli points out this province is the largest sub-national borrower in the world. What an achievement.
The province is selling off assets, such as Hydro One, to artificially balance the books, Fedeli said.
“He (LeClair) also confirmed what we’ve been saying for months — the government is using one-time money from asset sales, contingency funds and tax increases to artificially balance the budget in an election year.”
So the kids have sold the TV to pay off the credit card. What next?
LeClair, a career civil servant, couched his report civilly.
Yet it was scathing in its politeness.
He said it’s the province’s 12-year, $160-billion capital spending spree that’s driving us into the red.
Wynne’s ministers are on a summer spending bonanza, dropping big bucks on costly programs in the hope voters will be bought — and re-elect them in 2018.
No matter what measure of indebtedness you use, the figures are alarming.
- At 39.4%, Ontario’s debt burden, measured by ratio of net debt to GDP, was second only to that of Quebec (50.1%) in 2014-15.
- Ontario’s net debt per person was $20,806 in 2014-15, compared to $22,591 in Quebec. In contrast, net debt per person was $8,387 in B.C., and net assets per person were $3,168 in Alberta in 2014-15.
Finance Minister Charles Sousa insists investing in infrastructure spurs economic growth and increases GDP.
“Experts around the world have affirmed the positive impact that strategic infrastructure investments such as ours have on economies,” he said in a written statement.
What’s that about addiction? To find a cure you first have to admit you have a problem. This government is addicted to spending.
Admit you have a problem. Cut up the credit card, minister.
cblizzard@postmedia.com
