Last week seemed to be the week the NDP decided to have fun with numbers. Unfortunately, the numbers weren’t anything to be amused about for most Manitobans.
The first bit of numbers news came in the release of the final budget figures for 2011/2012. In the end the Greg Selinger NDP government said that they ran a $999 million deficit. That is a record deficit for our province and one has to wonder what sort of accounting maneuvers the government performed to get the number to come just a bit under a billion dollars.
While the NDP tried to lay the blame for the nearly billion dollar deficit on the spring flooding last year, the reality is that no more than a third of the deficit came as a result of fighting the flood. The majority came as a result of good old fashion over spending by the NDP in virtually ever part of government. The province’s debt has more than doubled under the NDP and there isn’t much hope of that trend reversing while they remain in government.
Shortly after the final numbers for 2011/2012 were released, the first quarter report on the province’s books for 2012/2013 were brought forward by the NDP government. There was more fun with numbers to be had there as well. In this report the NDP have said that they are still expecting to run a half billion dollar deficit in this current fiscal year. But all indications are that it could be higher than that. One of the things that the NDP promised to do this year was to sell a number of government owned assets. By doing this the NDP said they would raise $75 million. Halfway through this budget year and the NDP admitted they have not actually made a dime off of selling government assets so far.
As well, the NDP had promised to try to find $128 million in savings during the current budget year. They are not even close to reaching that goal so far. So it looks like the staggering deficit numbers will continue and the debt will continue to grow.
This is frustrating enough for anyone who worries about what the massive debt does to our immediate prospects as a province and the future for our children. But it is especially frustrating given the fact Manitobans are paying more and the debt isn’t going down. Remember, the NDP government broke an election promise in spring when it raised taxes by $300 million annually on Manitobans.
It may have blunted the sting of the broken promise and the financial pain of the taxes had there been some promise that the deficit would be eliminated and the debt reduced. But that isn’t happening. Which makes the NDP’s exercise of fun with numbers a very unhappy experience for Manitobans.
