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.