Liberal debt goes from ‘fiscal anchors’ to ‘anchors away’

While Prime Minister Mark Carney insists the Liberals’ Nov. 4 budget will adhere to so-called “fiscal anchors” to ensure the government’s fiscal policy encourages long-term economic growth, the problem is the Liberals keep moving the goalposts on what a “fiscal anchor” means.

This was the point interim parliamentary budget officer Jason Jacques — who for my money should get the job permanently — was making when he said that after a decade of Liberal government the state of federal finances is “shocking,” “alarming,” “stupefying” and “unsustainable.”

As an example of the Liberals moving the goalposts, when then-finance minister Chrystia Freeland resigned in December, she accused then-prime minister Justin Trudeau of blowing past the Liberals’ fiscal anchor of a $40.1-billion deficit for 2