In his first few weeks on the job, Jason Jacques has described the government's spending as "stupefying, shocking and unsustainable." The PBO, an independent officer who scrutinizes government raising and spending of tax dollars, also criticized the federal government last week for using an overly expansive definition of investments that will help the government hit its first fiscal target.
00:00:00.000article national post link in the description ottawa's fiscal watchdog says there's a low
00:00:17.660probability that the carny government will reach any of the three targets that it has referred to
00:00:22.960as its fiscal anchors just months after establishing those key long-term benchmarks
00:00:27.960Jason Jacques, the Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer, told a parliamentary committee Thursday that there's only a 7.5% chance that the government, for example, will hit its target of reducing Canada's deficit to gross domestic product ratio over each of the next few years.
00:00:44.540The Kearney government had earlier established three fiscal targets or anchors.
00:00:49.380Balancing the operating budget within three years, a declining deficit to gross domestic product ratio over the next few years,
00:00:56.580and a declining debt to GDP ratio over the next few years.
00:01:00.760The government's first budget, released on November 4th, dropped the third of those targets.
00:01:05.900Jacques' comments are the latest to criticize the Kearney government's fiscal policy in recent months.
00:01:11.180In his first few weeks on the job, Jacques has described the government's spending as
00:01:15.280stupefying, shocking and unsustainable.
00:01:19.320The PBO, an independent officer who scrutinizes government raising and spending of tax dollars,
00:01:25.160also criticized the federal government last week in a report for using an
00:01:28.820overly expansive definition of investments that will help the Carney government hit its first fiscal target.
00:01:34.740That move, the PBO said, shifts about $94 billion in daily spending over the next five years
00:01:40.860to the more palatable capital side of the ledger.
00:01:44.820The Kearney government's first budget marked the first time
00:01:47.280that Ottawa separated capital and operational or day-to-day spending.
00:01:51.860The accounting move has its defenders, but critics say it could lead to more spending.
00:01:57.380Ottawa has now accumulated $1.27 trillion in debt,
00:02:02.180almost half of which has been added over the last five years.
00:02:05.860With the budget's updated forecast for this fiscal year,
00:02:08.500the government is now on pace to amass $593.1 billion in debt over that five-year span,
00:02:15.960or 46% of the total debt accumulated in Canadian history.