Canada’s Federal Debt Hits (Ugly) Milestone: $600,000,000,000, Saturday, November 24th, at 11:

OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) revealed today that Canada’s federal debt will cross the $600 billion mark tomorrow, Saturday, November 24^th, at three seconds before 11:19 pm. Canadians can log on to www.debtclock.ca Saturday night to witness the event live on the Internet.

“After a decade of Canadians paying down our debt, reducing it by more than $100 billion dollars between 1997 and 2008, the Harper government has borrowed back every penny and more,” said CTF Federal Director Gregory Thomas. “As of tomorrow, the Harper government will have added $142.4 billion to our national debt, taking it past the $600 billion mark.” Canada’s national debt is now rising at a rate of $74.6 million a day, $3.1 million an hour, $52,000 a minute, and $863.27 a second.Canada’s federal debt could cover the $3.2 billion annual revenue of the National Hockey League for 187 years. Sydney Crosby’s 12-year $104.4 million contract could be extended for additional 68,964 years with the money Canadians owe on the federal debt. Canada’s federal debt could also cover the budget of the World Health Organization for 303 years, or cover the budget of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative for 275 years, matching the $700 million raised over the past 27 years by Rotary International members 857 times over.

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“We’re paying $31 billion this year, just in interest,” said Thomas. “This is more than the entire combined budgets for unemployment benefits, maternity and parental benefits, the child tax credit, and the universal child care benefit.” The CTF applauded finance minister Jim Flaherty’s commitment Thursday to balance the budget "during the current parliamentary term and certainly before the next election." In last year’s election, the Prime Minister said he’d balance the budget before the next election, then double the Tax-Free Savings Account contribution limit to $10,000, and extend income-splitting to working parents. “Canadians voted for tax relief in the last election, not deficits until 2016,” said Thomas.Thomas called on the government to scrap last week’s fiscal and monetary outlook, which projects Canada’s federal debt to rise to $636.2 billion by 2016. “Massive borrowing is a slippery slope that leads to the kind of chaos we’re witnessing in Greece,” said Thomas.The International Monetary Fund ranks Canada’s general government gross debt higher than 18 of the world’s 30 advanced economies, as a percentage of GDP, and its general government net debt higher than 10 advanced economies. Thomas noted that the federal government recorded record tax revenue last year, and that revenue for the first five months of 2012-13 is up from the previous year.“Australia and New Zealand, the Netherlands, Korea, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries all have a lower debt load than Canada,” said Thomas. “With Canada’s abundant natural resources, we should be balancing the budget and paying down the national debt.” Gregory Thomas, CTF Federal Director