While it's disappointing to see the federal conservatives again break their promise on balancing the budget, what's really disappointing is how little they appear to be troubled by the fact.
Yesterday, finance minister jim flaherty announced that the deficit will hit $26 billion this year - $5 billion more than predicted. Additionally, the feds say it will now take them one year longer to balance the budget then they had orginally pledged.
Flaherty is expecting a higher the deficit in each of the next four years, before finally reaching a balanched budget in 2016-17.
But like their previous pledge, this latest assessment looks more like a guess than a plan. They think they budget will be balanced, but they don't appear to sure about that. Maybe it won't.
Yes, there is uncertainty in the global economy. But we all knew that. We knew that when the government made it's initial balanced budget promise.
If Ottawa was serious about balancing the budget they wouldn't be offering excuses - they would be reacting to changing circumstances. Instead, the government's response is to shrug their collective shoulders and hope for the best.
The feds have yet to undertake any sort of serious cost-cutting measures, and unfortunately we still see many ways in which money is being wasted in Ottawa. On top of everything else, the government is still reaping record levels of tax revenue.
If the government wanted flexibility in balancing the budget, they shouldn't have offered a firm date. They did, and we have to assume they did because they felt it mattered.
And it does matter. This is a promise the feds should keep.
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