Budget update shows increased deficit, but history shows not to bank on that

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said she has "very little" confidence in the government's numbers and she continues to take issue with the level of unbudgeted spending by the Tories.

"We hear that there's going to be a $600-million-plus deficit, we hear the minister saying that he's concerned and that Treasury Board is clamping down, but we just signed an unsolicited $43-million bid to Google for search capacity," she told reporters.

"We're pouring money into Hogan Court against the specific advice of the auditor general. There isn't a lot of logical coherence in what we heard today."

Chender said the government has benefited from major boosts in population in recent years and the tax revenue that comes with those new residents. A softening of that could lead to more transparency from the government about how it spends money, she said.

"I think that this government has been quite literally banking on people coming here to allow them to open the chequebook in any way and manner that they see fit, often on a handshake."

Read the full article HERE…