By Dan Marhsall

Massive government debt means ‘less flexibility’ for future generations: taxpayer watchdog

Jan 21, 2017 | 7:07 AM

NANAIMO — A report from the Fraser Institute released this week highlights some staggering figures on government debt.

According to the right wing think tank the accumulated federal and provincial debt this year will reach $1.4 trillion.

That’s up from $833 billion in 2008.

The institute made the comparison that in the 2013-14 school year there was $63.9 billion spent on Canada’s entire primary and education system, while $62.8 billion went to paying interest on government debt in 2015-16.

Jordan Bateman, B.C. director with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, says he’s concerned about the trend in our province.

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“Right before the recession hit in 2008 Gordon Campbell had actually gotten the B.C. debt down to about $33 billion dollars,” said Bateman. “It was trending in the right direction, there was even talk that we might pay it off some time. Unfortunately since then it’s been debt, debt, and more debt to the point where we’re now closing in on $70 billion just in British Columbia, plus what the feds and municipalities are doing.”

Last year in B.C. the province announced a budget surplus of $730 million but the province’s debt also climbed by $2.4 billion.

Bateman says rising debt levels now will catch up with us down the road.

“What this means is higher taxes today, and higher taxes tomorrow. It means less flexibility for our kids to spend money on the challenges that they’ll face 20, 30, 40 years from now. What we’re doing is saying ‘we know better than anyone else, we’re willing to rack up our credit cards and leave this debt to future generations,’” said Bateman.

The Trudeau government’s first budget last March forecast a $29.4 billion deficit for this year, with deficits forecast for their entire term.

Some forecasts call for the federal debt to climb by about $113 million between 2016 and 2021, while other more pessimistic projections have Canada falling $150 million deeper in the red over that same five year time frame.