Trudeau Liberals' unchecked spending criticized by Liberal-appointed senator

Both Liberal and Conservative-appointed Senators have expressed concern over the Trudeau government's opacity in federal spending and budgets. Spending disclosures were ended after the government suspended Parliament on August 18, according to Blacklock's Reporter.

“It’s not being transparent,” Senator Elizabeth Marshall said. “We cannot get current, up to date financial information. Why is the government refusing to provide current financial information?”

The Department of Finance has not issued a report on borrowing and spending since August 6, as was ordered of the Department of Finance by MPs.

“It was the one piece of current financial information that was available... The government is providing very little.”

“I usually go to the Department of Finance website to see what’s there,” Marshall continued. “If you look at it now, the most recent Fiscal Monitor shows financial results for July, three months ago.”

The latest release from the Department of Finance on August 6 showed that the Trudeau Liberals had borrowed over half a trillion dollars, at $511,400,000,000, in just 120 days.

Trudeau appointed-Senator Tony Loffreda said cabinet must disclose finances. “I appreciate we’re in a pandemic,” said Loffreda: “However, most Canadians also understand we must operate within a budgetary framework... We don’t know how long this pandemic will last nor how quickly the economy will recover,” said Loffreda. “We need to well plan and monitor our resources.”

“As the economy recovers, interest rates rise and debt servicing costs increase significantly,” Loffreda continued. “The risk is we won’t be able to sustain this spending, and the repayment of our debt becomes an issue because debt servicing costs increase.”

The federal debt is estimated to sit at a record $1.3 trillion.