There are many math based classes that challenge students in their grade school and university studies. For Manitobans in general, there is a new numbers game that is being played that is equally challenging. It’s called NDP math.
Last week the NDP government proudly announced that the government was expecting to finish the budget year with a $316 million surplus. A surplus in these difficult economic times would be something to celebrate if it were true. Unfortunately, in this case, it isn’t.
At the same time the NDP were making a public statement that there would be a $316 million surplus, they were quietly, very quietly, also projecting that the province’s debt would increase this year by $1 billion. Only using NDP math could government declare that they had a surplus in the same year that the debt was going up.
The reason this false picture can be put forward is because last year Gary Doer and the NDP government changed the way they report the province’s finances. For the first time, they are including in the government’s books the profits from Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Public Insurance. So while the NDP government spent many millions of dollars more last year than they actually took in through tax revenue, they were able to say the province ran a surplus by adding Manitoba Hydro profits onto the provincial books.
But the debt of the provincial government, the money we and our children will have to pay back, increased by a billion dollars because the NDP spent more then it took in. And while it can make the books look better by adding in Hydro profits, those Hydro profits do not reduce the provincial debt because they go to fund Manitoba Hydro projects and its own debt.
The new NDP law which allows profits of Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Public Insurance to show up in the provincial finances is problematic for several reasons. The first is it doesn’t allow Manitobans to see a true picture of the province’s finances. The debt continues to grow in Manitoba yet the NDP claim surpluses through accounting tricks.
Another concern is that adding Hydro profits and that of other Crown Corporations into the government’s books gives the government an incentive to direct Crown Corporations to do things that do not make good long-term business sense and which are not in the best interests of Manitobans.
For example, if the NDP government is overspending on its budget, like they usually do, they will be looking for high profits from Manitoba Hydro and other Crown Corporations to help their books look balanced on paper. That may result in Crown Corporations like Hydro raising their rates when there would be no reason to do so other than bailing out the NDP’s poor money management.
NDP math is a challenge. And in the end, it’s not good for Manitobans.
