Discussion · Oral Questions
Michael Chong Conservative
“The member is cherry-picking numbers. The economy is barely growing, and the debt and its interest costs are rising fast. I want the government to give a yes-or-no answer: will it break its own spending limit in the next budget?”
“Mr. Speaker, I do not know what stats the member is cherry-picking, but business capital formation has declined in five of the last six quarters, and GDP growth is under 1%, effectively zero. As to spending, the debt is growing at double the rate of the deficit, and interest payments on the national debt are skyrocketing to 14¢ per dollar of revenue by decade’s end. I ask the government to answer the question. Will the government blow through the fiscal guardrail in the upcoming budget, yes or no?”
Official Hansard
Mr. Speaker, I do not know what stats the member is cherry-picking, but business capital formation has declined in five of the last six quarters, and GDP growth is under 1%, effectively zero. As to spending, the debt is growing at double the rate of the deficit, and interest payments on the national debt are skyrocketing to 14¢ per dollar of revenue by decade’s end. I ask the government to answer the question. Will the government blow through the fiscal guardrail in the upcoming budget, yes or no?