The Conservatives are stellar at economic management – enough so that they managed to bring Canada to its highest level of debt in history. Canada’s debt hit $600 billion yesterday and shows yet again how competent the Conservatives are at managing Canada’s economy – as if their chronic and secretive spending habits and their new round of deficits weren’t bad enough.

The Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation has officially made the call for the government to start spending within its means, calling this record debt a milestone for the Harper Government. To put some perspective on the size of this debt, if divided among Canadians, each person would be $17,200 in the red.

At the current rate, with increased deficits, Canada’s debt is growing by $74.6 million per day or $863 per second.

CTF director Gregory Thomas said that much of the stimulus spending that was made to fix the economy in 2008 was unnecessary and is in fault for the deficits that brought Canada’s debt to record levels – and to think Canada was paying it off when the Liberals were in power from 1993 to 2006.

“The economy bounced back and … we’re going to be paying those stimulus dollars 20, 30 years from now if we don’t get our act together.”.

Thomas pointed out that of the unnecessary funds, much of it was wasted and specifically targeted the government’s ad campaigns to sell themselves – yes we are paying for that too!

“You can’t sit through a football game without seeing all this propaganda about what a terrific job the government’s doing,” he said.

“They’re borrowing money to sell Canadians on themselves.”

The government inherited a debt of $481 billion and a surplus of $13 billion in 2006 and with reckless spending and terrible economic management, the Conservatives spent Canada into a deficit before the recession in 2008. Once the recession had hit Canada, the government was cornered into bringing out a stimulus plan which it, in turn, used as a propaganda machine to sell themselves as worthy economic managers. Four years later, Canada is still in deficit, deeper than initially forecast and the Government’s records have been so impeccable that there is a real possibility that the House of Commons and Canadians aren’t the only ones blindfolded over economic issues, but Flaherty himself as well. 

Meanwhile, on the provincial scale, debt is rising as well, unless you are in Alberta where they are stockpiling money as we speak.

Flaherty acknowledged that Canada’s debt won’t be erased by 2021 and that further cuts would be necessary. He has ruled out tax increases and cuts to provincial transfers for the 2013 budget.

Everyone will pay the price for this record debt, and it is enough of an indication of Conservative economic management to know that their Action Plan ads were nothing but empty propaganda used solely to brainwash the masses into voting Conservative in subsequent elections – and it didn’t cost the Conservative party a cent in election expenses either!

Do you still trust the Conservatives with the Canadian economy?