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Finally, the 2018 fall economic update indicated program spending this year (2019-20) would reach $328.3 billion, already $14.1 billion higher than the original 2016 plan. Tuesday’s budget calls for spending to reach $329.4 billion, an increase of $1.1 billion over the update released just five months ago. This also means the Liberals are now on track to record the three highest years of government program spending in Canadian history (outside of recessions or major wars).

The price of this additional spending is double-digit deficits, despite the 2015 Liberal campaign promise that deficits would be temporary and the budget would be balanced this year. This government’s record clearly shows its interest in spending as much as possible.

Worryingly, a slowdown in the economy or an outright recession will significantly increase the deficit. Indeed, without any additional discretionary spending from this government, the annual deficit could easily reach almost $35 billion. And there are already increasing signs the economy is weakening, further threatening the government’s finances.

This push for ever-higher levels of spending also comes at a time when the Liberals’ own Department of Finance projects that, on current plans, the federal government won’t balance its budget until at least 2040, when the federal debt will approach nearly $1 trillion.

While other aspects of Liberal fiscal policy can be debated, it’s hard to argue that the government is the least bit interested in balancing the budget while it spends as much as possible. The accumulating debt, and the risks of running deficits at a time of positive economic growth and low unemployment, means that should we slide into recession, federal finances will quickly deteriorate. The 2019 budget, upon which the Liberals will enter the election, does nothing to correct these policies.

Jason Clemens, Jake Fuss and Milagros Palacios are analysts at the Fraser Institute.