Author: Blazingcatfur

OTTAWA – J.J. McCullough — one of the most-read Canadian voices on politics — posted a thought this week that I’ve also been hammering in reporting and podcasting this year.

“I do not think the Liberal Party should be engaged in an ongoing backroom conspiracy to undo the stated partisan preferences of voters, or indeed elected politicians themselves,” he wrote, on Mark Carney’s unprecedented scheme of inducements to secure a majority government. “And I think the press should start reporting on this as an organized conspiracy, not fun Ottawa drama.”

To get straight to the point about the federal government’s spring economic update: the Liberals are spending even more of our money than they previously estimated. This fiscal year, program spending is now expected to be $536.2 billion, which is $7.6 billion higher than in the fall budget. The new spending projections for the following year are also higher than in the fall budget, and the same for the year after that, and even the year after that. All told, the Liberals’ economic update raises program spending by a cumulative $25 billion over four years versus their fall budget and they now propose to push spending to $575.4 billion by 2029-30.