MPP Ted Arnott congratulates federal Finance Minister for plan to pay off national debt

MPP Ted Arnott has congratulated federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on his recent fiscal update, which included a long-term commitment to pay down the national debt. Mr. Arnott made the following statement in the Ontario Legislature on November 27th, 2006:

Mr. Ted Arnott (Waterloo-Wellington): I want to congratulate Canada's Minister of Finance, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, for committing the federal government to a long-term plan of debt repayment.

Starting in the 1970s, governments across Canada forgot their obligation to future generations and our country became awash in a sea of debt. Even in good years, governments thought nothing of engaging in deficit financing instead of making a reasonable effort to live within their means.

Increasingly, the demand for government borrowing could not be satisfied within our domestic capital markets and we were forced to borrow more and more overseas. This meant that we became beholden to the international bond markets and a greater and greater portion of the national and provincial budgets was wasted on interest payments on the ever-burgeoning public debts.

During the profligate NDP government of Bob Rae from 1990 to 1995, Ontario's provincial debt doubled. A necessary correction followed, and under our government balanced budgets were the norm and provincial debt was actually paid down.

Unfortunately, since 2003 the McGuinty Liberal government has not shown the same degree of fiscal fortitude. In spite of their election promise to balance budgets, they've been on a spending spree and have made conscious, deliberate decisions not to balance their budgets.

Perhaps this explains why, three years ago, they voted against my private member's resolution which called upon the government to commit itself to a long-term debt repayment plan, with a vision of making Ontario debt-free in 25 years. This is an idea that I have been advocating in this House for the past nine years, since 1997.

Now that the federal government has recognized the need for long-term fiscal discipline and made a commitment to it, I once again call upon the McGuinty Liberals to do the same for the sake of future generations of Ontarians.