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Andrew Scheer is committed to painful cuts, but he’s trying really hard not to talk about it. This video proves it. Scheer’s been caught telling a private meeting of Conservatives about his cuts plan, and promises to be “very, very careful” to hide it. pic.twitter.com/LWBruflZTs — Bill Morneau (@Bill_Morneau) September 9, 2019

But the video is from a September 2016 Conservative candidate forum that was widely shared on public platforms including Facebook. In it, Scheer spoke about the need to balance budgets, primarily by not “spending the money in the first place.”

“When it comes to making tough decisions and cuts, I agree that it’s something that’s very important,” he said. “But we also have to be very, very careful how we communicate that to people.”

A spokesperson for Scheer suggested the video editing released by Morneau was highly misleading. The Liberals removed a sentence in the middle of Scheer’s response that appears to address Ottawa’s spending under Morneau, according to a full version of the video on Facebook.

“One of the best ways to get out of a hole is stop digging, and not inventing new ways of spending money,” Scheer had said, in an apparent reference to Morneau’s fiscal policy.

“This is just more desperation from Justin Trudeau and his Liberals,” said spokesperson Simon Jefferies. “They want to talk about anything other than their record, and they will lie to Canadians again and again.”

The tweet by Morneau underscores an attempt by the Liberal Party to strategically run deficits ahead of the federal election, then frame any plans to return to balance as an act of “austerity” that threatens voter livelihoods. It also taps into the anxieties of some voters, who fear budget cuts for crucial social services.