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Opposition Leader Roger Grimes is asking Premier Williams to justify his
comments regarding the amount of interest government pays to service the
debt each year. In his state of the Province address the Premier stated,
"Out of our annual $4.2 billion budget, we now spend more than a billion
dollars a year to pay for the interest on our debt." Information recently
received under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act clearly shows that this
statement was false and misleading. "The information we have received from
the Department of Finance confirms that the money government will spend to
pay interest on the debt for fiscal year 2003-04 is $551.5 million," said
Mr. Grimes. "This is almost half of the figure the premier used during his
state of the province address. We do not spend $1 billion a year on interest
payments to service our debt. How can he justify such comments?
"We have also received a breakdown of the financial institutions and
lending agencies to whom this money will be paid. These are factual figures
and show a detailed breakdown. It raises the question as to why the premier
deliberately told the people that the amount was almost double the actual
figure.
"I am disappointed that the premier has used this tactic in an effort to
mislead the people of the province. It makes it that much more difficult to
work with his government in an effort to solve our financial problems when
he is not being honest with the people.
"I am calling upon the premier to acknowledge the real interest payment
circumstance in the province and return to a more reasoned, practical
approach to working towards a balanced budget. Inflating numbers to justify
taking away $5 a month from our pensioners is not an acceptable approach." |