Where is all the money coming from?: Local MP is hearing from residents about federal Covid costs

May 1, 2020 | 5:06 AM

Many Canadians are wondering how much all the new federal programs to deal with Covid-19 will cost.

And that includes local Member of Parliament Mel Arnold.

The Conservative representing the North Okanagan Shuswap riding, says the Trudeau Liberals have authorized themselves to undertake unprecedented spending with very little oversight.

“We have managed to ensure the auditor general will be able to audit all of this spending, but that may not be for weeks or months down the road. So it’s an incredible amount of debt being created for the country with very little accountability at the moment,” Arnold told Vernon Matters from his home in Salmon Arm.

The second term MP says he had a number of calls from people wondering where all the money is coming from.

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“We simply just can’t keep printing money or we could end up with runaway inflation after this is cleared-up. And how long are we going to be paying this off in order to reestablish our debt to GDP ratio where it was prior to this.”

A report from Parliament’s budget watchdog Thursday said it’s likely the federal deficit for the year will hit $252 billion as a result of the pandemic.

The figure is an estimate based on the almost $146 billion in spending measures the government has announced to help cushion the economic blow from the pandemic, estimated declines in the country’s gross domestic product, and the price of oil remaining well below previous expectations.

Arnold is not a big fan of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s daily news conferences.

“It’s like a game show where he chooses which sector he’s going to present a gift to each day, and each day he provides a little bit, but there is no details behind it. And when we look into the details — or get the details two or three few days later — we find there is challenges and problems with it.”

Arnold says more in-person meetings of Parliament — which his party is pushing for — would catch the issues sooner, and make the programs better for everyone.

Parliament will start holding two virtual sessions next week and one in-person meeting on Wednesdays.

by Pete McIntyre

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