‘No plan for a return to any measure of fiscal prudence’: Kamloops MP Caputo

OTTAWA — On Tuesday (March 28), Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presented the 2023 federal budget in Ottawa. The Liberals’ latest budget announced new spending, primarily on the clean economy and health care. The government is projected to continue running deficits over the next five years.

Tuesday’s budget forecast a $14 billion deficit in 2027-28, and higher deficits each year than had previously been projected. Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Conservative MP Frank Caputo was disappointed to see the governing Liberals continuing to grow the country’s debt.

“Previously, the government had said that we would be moving toward a balanced budget — I believe it was in 2027 or 2028. This is also the government that said that they would run initial modest $10-billion budgets some time ago. We listened then and we were burned by that. ‘The budget will balance itself,’ we listened then, we were burned by that. This budget has no plan for a return to any measure of fiscal prudence,” stated Caputo.

Many economists are expressing disappointment in the federal budget and its fiscal projections, noting the government could be in trouble if the economy slows more than it is expected to. Caputo did his best to relate the billions of dollars in the budget and the growing deficit to the average Canadian home.

“It looks like it going to be about $4,300 per average household that the debt is increasing. If you think about that $4,300, what could the average household do with $4,300. And the government will no doubt come out and say well we are giving you this and we are giving to this. But, what about if that share was given right to the people who know how to use it best, we ourselves. That is a pretty significant concern for me because right now people are going to have to pay this debt at some point, it just going to become far to crushing,” said Caputo.