Opposition demands PM fire Flaherty over ballooning deficit
Canada's public accounts 'in freefall,' Ignatieff says in call for finance minister's dismissal
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | 5:14 PM ET
CBC News
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, left, tables the federal budget in the House of Commons in January as Prime Minister Stephen Harper looks on. (Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced calls from opposition MPs on Wednesday to fire his finance minister after Jim Flaherty acknowledged this week that Canada's deficit will balloon to more than $50 billion this fiscal year.
Flaherty announced Tuesday the deficit will rise by more than $16 billion in 2009-10 from the $34 billion he forecast in January's budget.
During Wednesday's question period, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff lampooned Flaherty's statements six weeks ago that his forecasts were "on track" and called his handling of the global recession "incompetence on a historic scale."
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff stands during question period in the House of Commons. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press) "What is at stake here is the credibility of the government of Canada and the credibility of the minister of finance," Ignatieff told the House.
"His projections are out the window again, leaving Canadians with the largest deficit in history — and no economic stimulus to show for it."
Outside the Commons, Ignatieff said the public accounts of Canada are "in freefall, and they can’t tell where the bottom is."
"He [Flaherty] has to go because there isn’t a businessman, there isn’t an investor, there isn’t a bank president in the country, there isn’t a foreign leader who can believe the government of Canada on its public finances," he said.
January's federal budget predicted five years of deficits with a shortfall of $64 billion over the next two years — a figure that will now climb to more than $80 billion.
Just two months before that, the Conservative government was touting years of surpluses in its fall economic update.
PM accuses leaders of hypocrisy
NDP Leader Jack Layton told the House that the government, backed by the Liberals, has "beaten all the records of bad economic performances" while infrastructure money isn't getting out the door.
During question period, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe said the prime minister and Flaherty denied the existence of the economic crisis during the election.
He suggested they either didn't see the crisis coming, or hid it from the public to get re-elected.
The prime minister countered that Canada's deficit is affordable and small in comparison to deficits brought in by other G8 governments, while it also helps communities, industries at risk and the unemployed.
Harper said Canada was responding to the recession "from a position of fiscal strength" and accused opposition leaders of hypocrisy.
"They're demanding we spend more money and on the other hand they say, 'Don’t run a deficit,'" he told the House.
Flaherty himself told the House that expanding the deficit to stimulate the economy and increase employment insurance benefits is "the right thing to do for Canadians."
But the three opposition parties have accused the Conservative government of failing to get stimulus money into the economy in the 120 days since the budget was tabled.
The Liberals, NDP and Bloc have also demanded the government expand the threshold of EI benefit qualification, arguing those hurt most by the recession aren't able to get help.
