The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to address what it describes as chronic overspending, following new data from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) indicating that the federal budget won’t be balanced until 2040.“Canadians can’t afford another decade-and-a-half debt binge,” warned Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Trudeau needs to stop wasting so much money and balance the books, because it’s wrong to waste billions on debt interest payments.”According to the PBO’s latest Fiscal Sustainability Report, the timeline for balancing the budget has been pushed back five years from last year’s projection, which estimated a balanced budget by 2035.The new estimate of 2040 assumes consistent economic growth and no additional spending beyond what is outlined in Budget 2024.Between now and 2040, Canadian taxpayers will face a staggering $847 billion in interest charges on the federal debt, equating to more than $18,000 per Canadian.“Waiting until 2040 to balance the budget is outrageous,” Terrazzano added, emphasizing the risks of relying on long-term projections. “The government won’t even hit that target if the economy has a hiccup or politicians can’t say no to new spending. This government has given taxpayers every reason to believe it will never balance the budget.”
