This past week marked an unfortunate occasion. It was the week that it became official that the NDP government has doubled the debt of the province since they came to office.

When the NDP were elected in 1999, the debt of the province stood at just over $13 billion. Today the debt is $27 billion and going up quickly.

The debt is the province’s mortgage and it represents the amount of money that has to get paid down at some point or the amount that interest is paid on every year. And like a household, the more interest that is paid the less money that is available for other things.

In 1999 there was a long term plan to pay off the debt. The debt was coming down and there was hope that we could actually leave for our kids a debt free province. Can you imagine what a benefit for the next generation that would have been? Unfortunately, the NDP were not interested in paying off the debt and despite a decade of record transfers from Ottawa, they have doubled it and the elimination of the debt now seems like only a dream.

Worse yet, the interest on the growing debt erodes the province’s ability to fund needed services and infrastructure projects. Currently Canada has record low interest rates. They really can go nowhere but up.

And for every percentage point that interest rates go up, it will cost Manitoba another $270 million annually. That’s $270 million that is going to have to come out of the budget from things like healthcare, education and roads or it’s money that is going to have to be made up for with higher taxes, something the NDP have already been doing. Of course the NDP are gambling that interest rates are going to stay low forever. History tells us that is a gamble that they can’t win and that Manitobans are going to pay for.

Increasing the provincial debt by over $1 billion every year isn’t sustainable and it is ultimately borrowing from our children as they are the ones who will have to repay the debt and pay the associated interest costs that come along with the debt.

The NDP will bring in a new provincial budget in the spring. In it must be a measurable and a realistic plan for getting the budget back into balance and a longer term plan for reducing the accumulated debt. That is what the NDP government inherited in 1999, a balanced budget and a plan to eliminate the debt. After 13 years, it’s an inheritance that they have squandered and are expecting our kids to pay for.