Discussion · Government Orders
Brad Vis Conservative
“The government is hiding the true size of its debt by counting money given to Canada Post as an asset. Canada Post will never pay that money back, so taxpayers will pay interest on it forever. The government needs to be honest in its budget reporting so our children do not inherit all this debt.”
“Mr. Speaker, our Parliamentary Budget Officer has been very clear that some of the accounting practices of the Prime Minister, namely, separating operating expenditures and assets into different categories when they are tied to Crown corporations is, in essence, fudging the books, so to speak. Nobody expects Canada Post to ever pay back the money the Treasury Board has given it in recent years. That is not an asset. That is money we are paying interest on, and we will in perpetuity until that is paid off. I believe the government needs to be more transparent in its budget reporting, as the Parliamentary Budget Officer outlined, but at this point, I am also very concerned about the future of my children, the debt they are inheriting and what the results of that debt will mean for their livelihoods in the future.”
Mr. Speaker, our Parliamentary Budget Officer has been very clear that some of the accounting practices of the Prime Minister, namely, separating operating expenditures and assets into different categories when they are tied to Crown corporations is, in essence, fudging the books, so to speak. Nobody expects Canada Post to ever pay back the money the Treasury Board has given it in recent years. That is not an asset. That is money we are paying interest on, and we will in perpetuity until that is paid off. I believe the government needs to be more transparent in its budget reporting, as the Parliamentary Budget Officer outlined, but at this point, I am also very concerned about the future of my children, the debt they are inheriting and what the results of that debt will mean for their livelihoods in the future.