When the Province’s dire fiscal position ought to be center stage in Election 2021, it is not.
This is a place where, it seems, neither politicians nor reporters are willing to even describe the full extent of the problem.
A few days ago, Premier Furey could be heard saying that the
“fiscal gap” – the difference between revenues and expenditures - is $800
million, when the correct number is around $2 billion. In the same breath, he
added that the Feds had taken care of the initial debt payments on Muskrat Falls
of $844 million – forgetting to note that they were only deferred.
The great majority of people likely have no idea how high the
public debt has grown or what it means to have debt beyond our capacity to pay.
They do know, by and large, that we are in financial trouble; otherwise, there
is widespread confusion.
On the other hand, few who know better would put their hand up and tell Furey, Crosbie and Coffin to cut out their nonsense. While the Employers’ Council is showing Polling data offering widespread public support for measures to deal with the fiscal mess, where is the clamor of advocates for such change?
