Discussion · Government Orders
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Québécois
“I agree with my colleague. As an accountant, I cannot make sense of the government's budget numbers. Ottawa uses tricks to hide the real size of the deficit. The only thing they cannot hide is that the debt keeps going up. I want to ask my colleague what will happen if our debt keeps rising. The government says our credit rating is good, but can this continue forever?”
“Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his speech. One thing that drew my attention as he spoke—probably because of my own academic training as an accountant—is everything he pointed out about deficit accounting, and what constitutes an expense, an investment or a debt. In the end, none of it makes any sense anymore. My colleague and I are not the only ones who cannot make heads nor tails of it. It would leave anyone with training in accounting, economics or finance completely in the dark. The system has become totally insane: Ottawa is using every trick in the book to hide the real status of the deficit. I agree with that. I also greatly appreciated it when he mentioned that the only indication we have now about the actual state of things is when we see the debt increasing, because it has become so hard to hide. In any case, the right approach still eludes them. My question for my colleague is this: What are the consequences of rising debt? The government keeps telling us that Canada has a AAA credit rating, but it seems to me that it has been repeating that line for a long time while deficits continue to grow. Can that really go on forever?”
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate my colleague on his speech. One thing that drew my attention as he spoke—probably because of my own academic training as an accountant—is everything he pointed out about deficit accounting, and what constitutes an expense, an investment or a debt. In the end, none of it makes any sense anymore. My colleague and I are not the only ones who cannot make heads nor tails of it. It would leave anyone with training in accounting, economics or finance completely in the dark. The system has become totally insane: Ottawa is using every trick in the book to hide the real status of the deficit. I agree with that. I also greatly appreciated it when he mentioned that the only indication we have now about the actual state of things is when we see the debt increasing, because it has become so hard to hide. In any case, the right approach still eludes them. My question for my colleague is this: What are the consequences of rising debt? The government keeps telling us that Canada has a AAA credit rating, but it seems to me that it has been repeating that line for a long time while deficits continue to grow. Can that really go on forever?