As 2017 begins fresh and new, taxpayers of the future (some of them not yet even born) are being saddled with a crushing tax burden. It’s called taxation without representation because those future citizens will have no voice in the debts for which they will have to pay. In recent years, the federal government has spent—and continues to spend—more money than it receives. That’s called deficit spending and the accumulation of those years of overspending is called the national debt, currently about $635 billion. Our debt is growing at the rate of $80 million every day and the interest we pay to our creditors is in the range of $71 million . . . every single day. There is no end in sight.

By 2031, according to a report recently released by the government’s finance department, Canada’s federal debt could pass the $1 trillion mark, surely a cause of alarm for any Canadian trying to balance a household budget. Budgets don’t “balance themselves” as the PM optimistically predicted while seeking the office he now occupies. Most of us already knew this. Wild spending in Ottawa today will mean tax increases for the rest of us tomorrow. Any hike in current interest rates will dramatically increase the amount of funds siphoned away from essential government programs—like healthcare for instance—to interest payments on the debt.

Over the Christmas-New Years break, Mr. Trudeau and his family were guests of the Aga Khan on his private island in the Bahamas. Brian Lilley of theRebel.ca has documented for us stay-at-home taxpayers some of the costs of that trip, and that of the Trudeau family’s St. Kitts vacation the year before. Costs of the St. Kitts trip included $64,000 to keep the PM’s security detail housed and $48,000 to keep his flight crew on standby for nine days. On the plus side, the PM reimbursed Canadians the equivalent value of economy fares for his family. In fairness, as our PM, he’s not allowed to travel on regular commercial flights due to security concerns. This year’s trip, however, raises some other concerns. What kind of influence does the Aga Khan and his foundation have over Canadian government policy? The Aga Khan is an Islamic religious leader. In 2016, the Canadian government contributed $55 million dollars to his foundation. With our federal spending out of control and our national debt growing like a noxious weed, do we have $55 million kicking around for every philanthropic cause that comes along and are there strings attached to these kinds of budget decisions? This is just an example.

On the larger issue of deficit spending, where is our PM leading us in terms of debt and deficit? During the election of 2015, he promised to keep the first annual budget deficit under $10 billion and to return to balanced budgets and surpluses by 2019. Those promises have now been glibly tossed out along with any spending restraints. The first full year of Liberal rule has a deficit price tag of about $30 billion. Lest anyone think that only Liberals have a spending problem, the previous government under Stephen Harper ran deficits for seven years and increased the national debt by about $155 billion (a 30% increase).

Regarding his time in the Bahamas, nobody says the PM shouldn’t have a break once in a while. Resting on the beach may be therapeutic after his strenuous activities of this past year. After all, pushing through legislation to allow the killing of the elderly, chasing photo-ops at pride parades, undoing legislation regarding financial transparency, ensuring special rights for some at the expense of others—all these things take their toll. But should taxpayers be forced to pay for luxury family vacations for the PM which they could never afford for their own families? It’s high time that politicians began to hold themselves to a higher standard of service and of honesty.

CHP Canada would introduce mandatory balanced budgets and pay off the national debt like a household mortgage. If you like common-sense solutions to national problems, join us and help us get our government back to the real world where today’s bills will not be paid by tomorrow’s taxpayers.

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