VICTORIA - The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has brought its national debt clock out of moth balls to show how fast federal and provincial governments are racking up debt.
The old clock was retired after former Finance Minister Paul Martin brought in his 1995 budget that cut spending and put the country on track for balanced budgets.
But CTF director Kevin Gaudet says both Ottawa and the provinces are back in major debt, with the federal government borrowing $124 million a day and shelling out $93 million a day in interest.
He says that's not responsible or sustainable and unless taxpayers demand balanced budgets, Canada will once again spiral into prolonged deficits and people will face higher taxes to pay for it all.
The CTF is taking its debt clock on a cross country tour over the next six weeks, starting in Victoria and ending in Halifax in the last week of March.
The clock, which measures two metres high by four metres long, displays how much the debt is climbing per second and how much each Canadian would have to pay in order to eliminate that debt.
