The Conservatives have held a mantra of fiscal responsibility. It has worked up to now because neither the Liberals or NDP could offer a credible alternative. However, anyone who looks at the Conservative record would see their mantra is nothing but lies.

Canadians angry about Conservative austerity measures have a new reason to be upset. While the cuts the Conservatives made directly impacted services, bureaucracy and federal payrolls ballooned as a result of their governance. In short: Canadians lost services and meat so they could keep useless bureaucrats and fat.

US President Barack Obama drew a clear line in the sand today on where he stands on the controversial keystone pipeline project. Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver responded to the remarks, saying he’s confident the facts support the approval of the project in a time when the Conservatives will likely be shifting their attention to the resource-based economy.

On March 25, the Commons Board of Internal Economy decided to give MPs a pay increase and larger travel allowance. MPs will be getting a 1.6% raise while also receiving 6.7% more money for their travel allowances. The changes were only made public Thursday when it was tabled in the House of Commons. In a time of economic uncertainty and a focus on reducing deficits, increasing MP salaries and travel allowances proves to be reckless and irresponsible.

Canada’s insurance industry is being forced to pay a $1 billion GST bill by the end of the month, one many companies never had to pay before. Critics say the move smacks a “banana republic.” For a party that claims it is the low tax party, this government has introduced hidden tax hikes and new taxes.

The Conservatives are sending public servants emails linking them to the Canada’s Economic Action Plan website and a survey which asks who they will vote for in the next election. The Union of National Defense Employees demands answer and Canadians deserve an explanation as more than $100 million in taxpayer money has been spent on propaganda while unemployment is still an issue.

The government knew for a year that applications for the Temporary Foreign Workers program were happening in the same fields and same regions as people were filing for unemployment. This speaks to their idea of economic management. Why did it take the government one year to remove loopholes in the program? How could changing EI be considered a fix for a separate, broken, program?

It is no secret that Canada’s economy is in rough shape. Anyone that looks at the job numbers sees permanent, well-paying jobs, have disappeared and whatever boom of jobs the Action Plan ads claim to have created are in fact temporary and forcefully drop wages in a time when the cost of living is rising rapidly.

A CBC News Investigation has found Canada will be paying up to ten times more than other countries to design ice-breaker ships for Arctic patrol. The design for the Canadian ship, set to be similar to the Norwegian model will cost $288 million to design while Norway paid less than $100 million to design and build their ships in 2002.

Auditor General Michael Ferguson released his annual spring report which found lack of information to be the theme of the Conservatives’ program spending. Included in this analysis is $3.1 billion in funding for anti-terrorism which can’t be accounted for and off the radar. In times of economic uncertainty and austerity, can the Conservatives really afford to lose $3.1 billion without having it accounted for?