Ottawa’s ballooning deficit took an awkward turn at committee after a senior Finance Department official laughed off his inability to calculate interest costs on tens of billions in new federal borrowing, prompting sharp rebukes from MPs alarmed by what they called reckless Liberal spending.Blacklock's Reporter says Deputy Minister of Finance Nicholas Leswick was testifying before the Commons public accounts committee on the 2025 deficit, which exploded to $78.3 billion after being forecast at $26.8 billion — a 192% jump and the largest deficit in Canadian history outside pandemic spending.Conservative MP Gérard Deltell pressed Leswick on the real cost of Ottawa’s borrowing spree, comparing federal finances to a household living permanently on credit. Over the past decade, he noted, the national debt has doubled and the deficit has blown past projections.When asked to calculate the interest cost of roughly $80 billion in new borrowing at about 3%, Leswick demurred. “I can’t do the mental math in my head,” he told MPs, adding with a laugh that he felt he was “failing the committee.”The laughter did not sit well with Deltell, who warned that debt charges would fall squarely on future generations. Leswick attempted to walk it back, saying he was joking about his own math skills, not the seriousness of the debt. Still, he acknowledged there would be “an uptick in public debt charges” and declined to go further..Deltell reminded the committee that previous governments had managed to rein in spending, pointing to balanced budgets under former Liberal finance minister Paul Martin in the 1990s and under Prime Minister Stephen Harper a decade ago. “When you’re only paying the interest on the debt, we are heading off a cliff,” he said.Leswick agreed in principle that deficits must be controlled to protect Canada’s credit rating, but offered little reassurance on the trajectory. Interest payments alone cost taxpayers $55.6 billion last year and are projected to climb to $76.1 billion by 2029. Cabinet has warned actual borrowing could end up higher than planned.Bloc Québécois MP Sébastien Lemire also condemned the deficit, blaming what he called a decade of Liberal mismanagement. When Lemire asked whether Ottawa had lost control of public finances as interest costs soar, Leswick said he did not understand the question.Pressed again, the deputy minister pointed to Canada’s Triple-A credit rating as evidence the situation remains manageable — an answer that did little to calm MPs worried that soaring deficits and mounting debt charges are becoming the new normal.
