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Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise that his government will “spend less and invest more” is the same sort of fiscal flimflammery as Justin Trudeau’s claim in 2014 that as prime minister he would grow the economy and “the budget will balance itself.”

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The budget never balanced itself under Trudeau, even before the pandemic hit in 2020.

His 2015 election pledge of three years of “modest deficits” in 2016, 2017 and 2018 followed by a balanced budget in 2019, turned out to be a myth.

As for Carney’s pledge to “spend less and invest more” respected University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe, writing in The Hub, noted that “Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre dismissed Carney’s proposal as ‘cooking the books’ and history justifies the skepticism.”

Carney dismissed that criticism by suggesting he has more experience than Tombe as an economist and economic manager.

Jake Fuss, director of fiscal studies for the Fraser Institute, called Carney’s pledge “creative accounting” because “Mr. Carney’s math doesn’t add up.”

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