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The latest report from Ottawa on Canada’s fiscal position has that remarkable quality usually reserved for pieces of abstract art: depending on who you are, where you’re standing and what you’re thinking about, it can say something entirely different to different people.

To the federal Liberals, the report by Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Jean-Denis Fréchette was confirmation that they are on the right path in digging deep deficits and rolling back the age of eligibility for Old Age Security (OAS):

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“Our government welcomes the work of the PBO in keeping parliamentarians and Canadians informed,” Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s press secretary, Annie Donolo, said in an email to the CBC. “We are pleased to see the PBO confirm that the federal government’s fiscal situation, as well as the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), are sustainable over the long term.”

Donolo’s remarks neglected to note that the CPP assessment does not include recent changes that will sharply increase contributions and payouts. She also didn’t mention that the Trudeau government’s decision to scale back the OAS age to 65 — instead of extending it to age 67 by 2023 as planned — is expected to cost the government federal fiscal room equal to 0.2 per cent of gross domestic product. A previous OAS report put that cost at more than $11 billion a year.