Flaherty: We Won't Meet Deficit Target

The country's finance minister confirms what just about every other economist in the country already knew.

Well, we can officially scratch one campaign promise off the Conservatives' list: Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said it will take longer to eliminate the country's deficit than the party had pledged just six months ago. During the election, the Tories had said they would eliminate the deficit by 2014-2015, in time for the next federal election. But Flaherty told the Calgary Chamber of Commerce that that projection was a little rosy, as the ongoing debt crisis in Europe and sluggish growth here in Canada means the deficit won't be eliminated until 2015-16 at least. Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page had earlier said it could take until 2017-18 to complete that goal, but we'll give Flaherty the benefit of the doubt until he inevitably takes the stage some months or years down the line to let us know that, yep, that deficit's gonna be sticking around longer than anticipated. The NDP has charged that the Tories' fixation on cutting government spending will just exacerbate Canada's economic problems, such as unemployment and sluggish growth.