CTF: Federal government won’t balance the budget until 2070, amassing $2.7 trillion in additional debt

"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised Canadians he would balance the books in 2019, but it turns out that we will have to wait about 50 years before we see a balanced budget," said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director for the CTF. "Racking up trillions of dollars in debt and interest is not okay, and that’s why we need to see federal politicians start taking deficits seriously."

The federal government won’t return to a balanced budget until 2070 under the status quo, according to supplementary data released by the Parliamentary Budget Officer in its most recent Fiscal Sustainability Report. They project another $2.7 trillion in debt before balancing the budget in 2070. This is in addition to the current $1 trillion in existing federal debt. Interest charges will cost taxpayers about $3.8 trillion by 2070.

When running for prime minister in the 2015 election, Trudeau promised Canadians he would balance the budget in 2019. The federal deficit in 2021 is expected to total $140.645 billion and decline significantly to $24.997 billion in 2024. After the fact, the deficit increases considerably in 2029 from $39.844 billion to $55.324 billion and continues to grow gradually until 2046 to $75.951 billion. It will take until 2070 to see a balanced budget, where the federal government incurs a $5.117 billion surplus.

"If things don’t change, Canadians will lose out on a tonne of money to the bond fund managers because of government debt interest charges," said Terrazzano: "That money can’t go to health care or lower taxes because of these huge debt interest costs."

He said politicians should be outraged by five decades of red ink and that families shouldn’t be forced to pay for all the overspending by the government. "We need the feds to roll up their sleeves and save some money."